


Proving Grounds

by sharpiedoodler



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Zuko (Avatar)-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:56:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24646792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharpiedoodler/pseuds/sharpiedoodler
Summary: As children, Azula never told anyone that Ozai had planned to kill Zuko, forcing him to flee to Ba Sing Se as a refugee when it happened. But with the Avatar now awake, Zuko’s new life comes falling apart as his loyalties are tested and the line between friends and enemies blur together.
Comments: 69
Kudos: 313





	1. The Runaway

Prince Zuko wasn’t sleeping soundly. He was twisting and turning in his silk sheets as the night went by. Little did he know of the heavy footsteps coming towards him door. He stayed asleep as it creaked open and his father stepped inside. His father walked towards the bed, his steps becoming slower and slower as he looked at his son. He looked down at him with an expression no one had seen on his face in a long time, a strange mixture of pity and rage, disgust and hopelessness. His hand lit up in hot flames. A beautiful handful of rich reds and oranges dancing in his palm.

Zuko stirred in his sleep, the light waking him up. He cracked an eye open, “Father?” He asked, tiredly.

His father’s expression changed to one of distaste. The flames turned blue.

Zuko frowned, blinking away the sleep, “Father, what’s going on? Is something wrong?”

His father only shook his head, “Relax, Zuko.” With a mighty gesture, he brought his fiery hand down, aiming to hold it over his face.

Zuko shrieked and dodged. He scrambled to the other side of the bed, “Father!” 

His father sighed, the light from the flames casting strange and eerie shadows on his face, “Don’t make this any harder for me, Zuko.”

Zuko’s eyes were wide. He scrambled off the bed, cursing his satin blankets as they wrapped around his legs, trapping him,“Help me! Someone help!” 

His father walked around to the other side of the bed, the fire still in his hand. He approached his struggling son, who was still screaming. Wriggling like mad, desperate for his life, he fell face first onto the floor. He scrambled to his feet and stared at his father, betrayal and confusion bright on his face. 

His Father smiled sadly, “You will be a worthy sacrifice, Zuko. Your name will live on forever.”

Zuko shook his head, “Dad! Mother! Help me! Azula!” His hand keep getting closer to his face. Zuko backed up and took the blanket in his hands, setting it on fire. He threw it onto Firelord’s face. His father screamed in pain and held his hand to his face. Zuko barely cast a look at it, before he leaped over his bed and sprinted outside. 

He ran to his parent’s room and threw the door open. When he got inside, he shook his mother awake.

“Zuko?” She asked, still tired. 

“It’s father!” Zuko whispered, “He’s trying to kill me!” 

His mother became alert very quickly. She sat up, “Follow me, we need to leave.” She grabbed her son’s hand and pulled him out of her room and alongside the thousands of corridors. 

“Ursa!” His father’s thundering voice echoed through the halls. His mother froze. She dragged Zuko into the courtyard. He spotted the turtle ducks, still asleep and ignorant to everything happening. 

His mother grasped his shoulders, “I can’t come with you,” Zuko made a small noise of protest, but his Mother put a finger over his lips, “Listen. You need to run to the docks. There’s a few ships leaving tomorrow. Board any of them. You need to leave immediately, before any of the guards are told to try and find you.”

Zuko felt himself starting to cry, “Mother? What is going on?”

His Mother pulled him into a strong hug, “I was beginning to suspect something like this would happen. I just never though Ozai would actually…” She trailed off, “Never mind. Once you leave, get to the Earth Kingdom. Change your name and never firebend again. Understand me? Never again. If you get recognised…” She trailed off again, but Zuko understood what she meant. “I love you, Zuko. I always will. Azula does too. Be careful, alright. I’m sorry,” His mother said, quickly. 

“Ursa!” His father yelled again, much closer.

His mother smiled at him one last time, “Run!”

And Zuko did. He sprinted across the courtyard, passed the turtle duck pond. He ran though the hallways he lived in his entire life. He managed to get out of the palace without a sound and ran down the steep hill Palace City was on until he got to the docks, where luck would have, a few boats sat in the harbour. He couldn’t spot any crew on it, they were probably all asleep. 

Zuko stumbled onto the nearest boat. He was exhausted, hungry and in shook. He managed to find a storeroom that looked like it hadn’t been touched in months. Zuko stumbled inside, closed the door and fell asleep.

The next morning, he could feel the boat moving. He looked out the small window. There was the city, slowly fading from his view. He could spot the highest tower of the palace where the library was. A little to the left was the roof where his parent’s room was. Zuko shivered at the thought. Was his father sleeping right now? Having a pleasant dream about killing his son again? 

The thought nearly sent him over the edge, what had he done wrong? Sure, he wasn’t as good as a fire bender as Azula was, or was particularly gifted at any subject in school and yes, the consequences in the Fire Nation were often severe, but he couldn’t think of anything he’d done that had been awful. Zuko let the thought swirl in his mind for a bit longer. 

He kept watching the main land until it disappeared from view. All around him was sea. It made him uncomfortable. Water was nice and cool in small doses, but in big ones, Zuko knew it could wipe him out easily. If the ship went down, Zuko knew it was going to drag him down with it.

By nightfall, Zuko was shivering. He was tempted to light a fire, but his mother’s words kept repeating themselves in his head. Never firebend again. The idea of never playing around with it, never feel it tickling his skin, never feeling the great rush of power that accompanied it almost made him cry. But still, he knew his mother was smart. So Zuko stayed cold all night, wrapping himself up in his thin night clothes. 

They arrived at a port three days later. Zuko almost leaped for joy when he heard the yells from upstairs, screaming to let the rowboats down. He was hungry, thirsty and tired, ready to get out from the cramped, damp storeroom. He listened next to the door. Hearing no foot steps, Zuko cracked the door open and spied out of it. No one. He opened it wider and took a hesitant step outside, paranoid and jumpy. Every little creak of wood or footstep from upstairs made him jump a mile. He managed to reach the end of the hallway.

“Hey you!” He heard someone yell. Zuko looked behind him. A man in fire nation garb, was charging towards him, “Stowaway!” 

Zuko sprinted up the stairs as fast as he could, turning down another hallway. He ran past a Fire Nation, who tried to grab him. He turned again, running, his footsteps pounding on the metal boat. There! A door. He swung it open and stepped out, relishing the breeze that ran across his skin. 

“Stop him!” A Fire Nation soldier yelled.

No time to think, Zuko climbed the railing that looked out to the sea. He casted one last glance back at the ship, where the men were charging towards him and took his chance. He tumbled towards the water. It enveloped him like a blanket, dark and soft. 

He held his breath, thankful for his swimming lessons as he tried to figure out which way was up. The clothing he was wearing was already weighing him down and Zuko struggled to break the surface. He took a deep breath once he had, inhaling the fresh air like a starved man did food. He looked back at the looming metal hull. It seemed so tall and imposing. Zuko quickly swam out to the harbour, managing to avoid most people as he got to the surface, shivering in his wet clothing. He was thankful for the wetness a moment later when an Earth Kingdom lady bumped into him.

“Oh, you poor dear. Did you fall into the water?” She asked, taking his hand.

Zuko snatched it back immediately, looking at her warily. Why wasn’t she yelling at him? Trying to kill him? Earth Kingdom was the enemy of the Fire Nation, why wasn’t she attacking him. He glanced at his clothing. They were completely dark. The water had darkened them to the point that they could pass as black. The lady must of though he was an Earth Kingdom.

“Are you alright?” She asked, newfound sympathy in her voice.

Zuko nodded.

“Where are your parents?” She asked.

Zuko froze, he couldn’t tell her who they were! “Gone,” He sputtered.

“Fire Nation, wasn’t it,” A grimace took over her face, “Awful, awful. Another family ruined. Tell you what, I have some clothing my own son grew out of a few months ago. I was going to sell them, but I think you need them more. Come with me and I’ll let you sleep for the night.”

Zuko looked at her suspiciously, then at the harbour. Where else was he going to get help” “Thank you.”

She smiled, “It’s nothing. I’m Min Tai, what’s your name?”

“Uh,” Zuko said, scrambling for one. Everyone knew Zuko was the son of Prince Ozai, what was a common, normal name? “Lee.”

“Oh, well isn’t that funny, my nephew was called Lee too,” She said. They began walking towards the village, making polite conversation. Zuko was glad his clothing was cotton, they were staying wet for a long time. By the time they reached her house, Zuko was relieved, even if it was just a hut made out of mud.

“Here they are,” She said, thrusting a pile of green rags into his arm. Zuko looked at them gingerly. Some of them had holes in them and they all had a small coating of dirt. 

At his look Min Tai laughed, “Yes, they are a little dirty aren’t they. I’m sorry, my son is an earthbender, always digging holes then filling them up with himself still in them. The other day he managed to even lift his sister four feet in the air with one of his earth pillars.”

Zuko was impressed, he didn’t know much about earth bending, but the idea of moving earth had always seemed cool. Not as good as fire, but still tempting.

“Are you a bender then?” She asked.

Zuko was tempted to answer yes, but his mother’s warning rang in his head. He shook his head.

“Me neither, now go get changed,” She said, shooing him away. 

Zuko stumbled off to get changed, feeling incredibly wrong as he put on the robes. They were green. Not red. Green. He looked at them with distaste. They had holes in them too and were obviously worn in by someone else. They fit differently too, much looser than the clothing of the Fire Nation. Softer, covering more skin. And green. Ugh. He hated the green. Zuko left the room he had been changing in.

Min Tai walked over to him, “Just like I thought. They fit like a glove.”

“Thank you,” Zuko lied.

“It was no problem, dearie. Now, supper’s almost ready, Bao and Fen will be along any minute,” She said.

Zuko sat down at the wobbly table. Everything about this place was so strange. The room was sparsely decorated, only a small family portrait hung on the wall. Most of the furniture was made of wood or look like it had emerged from the earth below. The food did smell quite good though, Zuko decided.

The door swung open, “Hey Mom!”

Zuko looked. Two children, a boy around his age and a girl a few years younger. They both had dark hair and the green eyes that marked them as Earth Kingdom. Both of them were covered in dirt. 

He heard Min Tai sigh when she saw them, “Bao, what did I say about earth bending before supper?” She asked. 

Bao shook his head, “It was Fen, Mom! She bended a ball of dirt and dropped it on my head!” 

Tai Min hugged her daughter, “Oh good job, Fen. But you do know that you have to use it responsibly, okay? I’ll start sending you to Jiang in a few weeks, so that he’ll train you.”

“Whose that?” Fen asked, pointing at Zuko. He stood up.

Min Tai responded, “That’s Lee. He’ll be staying with us for the night, okay.”

Fen ran up to him, a huge smile on her face “Guess what?”

“Uh,” Zuko stammered, “What?”

“I’m an earth bender!” She yelled, triumphantly.

“Good job?” Zuko guessed.

A smile lit up her face, “Look!” She yelled, making a pushing motion. After a few moments of intense concentration, the earth under his chair tilted, throwing him off of it.

Zuko yelped as he fell out of it, barely saving himself from hitting the ground.

“Fen!” Min Tai admonished, “No! Lee isn’t a bender, you can’t play games like that with him. He could have been hurt by that.”

Fen looked down, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, Fen,” Zuko responded, awkwardly. 

Min Tai smiled apologetically at him, “So, Lee, where are you going?” 

Zuko hesitated, “I don’t really know yet.”

She put a potato on his plate, “Well Ba Sing Se is always accepting refuges. I heard the siege ended just a few days ago in fact. Maybe it's a sign.”

“Does that mean Daddy’s coming back?” Fen asked.

“Yes it does, Fen. Daddy's defeated the monsters, so he can come back,” Min Tai told her.

Zuko watched them with wide eyes. Monster? He assumed they were talking about the Fire Nation. For a moment he was about to show them just how dangerous a firebender could be, before he stopped himself. He was Lee right now, the non-bender.

“And you, Lee. Was anyone you know sent to fight?”

Zuko nodded, “My Uncle.”

Min Tai winced, “Do you know if he’s alright?”

Was his Uncle alive? If Min Tai had been right that the siege had ended, it meant that either Uncle was victorious or dead. Zuko thought back to his last few days in the Palace. On the last evening, there had ben an air of sadness and mourning. Zuko tried to ask about it, but Mother had told him she would tell him and Azula in the morning. She never got around to it.

“No,” Zuko decided.

She looked at him with pitying eyes, “How old are you, Lee? Ten?”

“Eleven,” He told her.

“I’m seven!” Fen threw in, “Bao’s twelve!” 

Min Tai ignored Fen, “There are orphanages in Ba Sing Se. I would love to have you live here, but the village is not in good shape. Already, we’re too hungry. I suspect you’ll have better luck there. I’ve heard that there are jobs by the bucketful, all of them paying more than enough to live happily.”

Zuko nodded. He knew where Ba Sing Se was, because of all the studying he did in the Fire Nation. But Uncle hadn’t managed to get in, how could he?

“I don’t know how to get in,” He muttered. 

“I’ve heard of a ferry, off the Full Moon Bay,” Bao said, through a mouthful of potato, “Zei’s family is heading there in a few weeks.”

“Really?” Min Tai said, “That’s very helpful. What do you think, Lee? Full Moon Bay is only half a days walk from here.”

Zuko nodded, slowly, “That sounds good.” What choice did he have? Scavenge in Earth territory and starve to death? Or head to Ba Sing Se? Zuko made up his mind, Ba Sing Se it was.

Min Tai beamed, “Excellent! Bao, would you like to show Lee to the bay? You can leave tomorrow, at eight?”

Bao shrugged, “Sure.”

“Thanks,” Zuko told them. It was odd to say those types of things. Not even a week ago, saying that you to anyone would have been beneath him, but here, he was just another commoner. Another face in the street. Zuko wasn’t sure he liked that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone,   
> Thanks for giving this story a try. For simplicity's sake, Zuko will always be referred to in text as 'Zuko' and only as Lee in dialogue with characters who call him that.  
> Weekly updates, I'll probably add more tags later.


	2. The Refugee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko arrives in Ba Sing Se and begins his new life, trying his best not to be discovered as the prince of the Fire Nation

The ferry to Ba Sing Se was, somehow, worse than his trip to the Earth Kingdom. At least in the storeroom he managed hide away in the night before, he'd had enough room to curl up and sleep with the sounds of the waves in the background. The ferry, on the other hand, was packed to the brim and Zuko could hardly move without risking a grownup accidentally elbowing him in the face or stepping on his foot. So he resigned himself to spending an unpleasant few hours stuck between a rude teenager who kept glaring at him whenever he accidentally brushed her arm and an elderly man who kept ‘accidentally’ putting his cane down on top of Zuko’s foot. 

He held his breath as ferry passed underneath rocks, the tunnel seemed to stretch on forever until finally, he saw light in the distance. The conversation around him seemed to stop as the ferry pulled out of the tunnel and the river narrowed into a canal. Zuko gasped at the sight. He could see the walls of Ba Sing Se behind him, so tall that he could hardly imagine how they were even built. There was no sign of the siege, not a single brick out of place or even any scorch marks. The siege was one of the Fire Nation’s most important military operations, but there was no sign it had done anything.

“Thank goodness for those walls,” someone murmured, close to him.

The teenager let out a small cheer, “Not even the Fire Nation, with a whole army could get through the walls! Ba Sing Se is strong!”

Zuko felt a pit in his stomach as she said those words. His Uncle had to be dead, since the siege was over and apparently, a failure. He might only be eleven, but he was old enough to understand what it meant. A horrible military failure, one that had cost their nation thousands of soldiers, good and loyal citizens. But the ferry was practically vibrating as people began cheering. Everyone on the ferry looked tired and wore clothes that were covered in dust, but he could feel a palpable joy through the people. 

“Look alive, kid,” a man with a a huge burn that ran down his face and arm told him, “This is a better world now. We have a chance to win.”

Zuko frowned. The Fire Nation were going to win, it was just a matter of when. The failure of the siege only meant the war would last a little longer, “It’s only a minor setback,” he answered, curtly.

The man scowled, “What’s the matter with you? People in this city don’t like Fire Nation sympathists.” 

Zuko held his tongue. He had to be Lee, surrounded by the people of the Earth Kingdom. The old man looked at him suspiciously, but dismissed him with a roll of his eyes and waded through the crowd away from him. Zuko let out a breath of relief. He couldn’t do stupid stuff like that anymore, not while he was surrounded by the Earth Kingdom. 

He watched as the ferry passed through the agricultural area, surrounded by impossibly large fields. He was probably the first fire bender in nearly a hundred years to be on the other side of the walls. They passed through another wall, before the ferry ground to a halt. Zuko followed the crowd as they disembarked, gazing around. 

The city was like nothing he’d ever seen. It stretched on as far as he could see, with buildings and roads everywhere. It was dark and dirty though, nothing like the polished and clean Fire Nation. Or at least, this part of Ba Sing Se was dirty. In the distance, he could just see gleaming rooftops and trees but another wall sat in the way. He’d get there soon, he decided. 

In the meanwhile, however, he needed somewhere to sleep. He had no money and no family, but Min Tai had suggested finding an orphanage. Zuko scowled. He had never visited a Fire Nation orphanage, but he knew the gist : they were for the forgotten kids. The ones who lost their parents and had no money to their name. If they could fire bend or showed an aptitude for the military, they were put in training academies. The only kids older than eight in orphanages were the ones who had no where else to go. Like him. 

It took him the better part of the day to find it, since the building was hidden between two apartment buildings that both seemed to be leaning inwards. Outside the orphanage was a few young children playing, with dust on their faces and looking skinnier than he was comfortable with. The building itself looked like it had seen better days, accented with rotting wood and peeling paint. He was tempted to just try his luck somewhere else, but his stomach grumbled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since he’d left Min Tai’s that morning. 

So, against his better judgement, he walked inside. The inside was no better than the outside, a small cramped room, leading to a hallway and a staircase. Sitting at a desk, was a tall, middle aged woman with the tell tale green eyes, “Another one?”

“Uh,” Zuko frowned, “I was told to come here?”

She sighed, “No parents or family?”

He nodded, “Just me.”

“Refugees,” she said the term like it was dirty, “Come on then. At least you’re old enough to take care of yourself.”

She lead him up two flights of stairs, before she opened a door. To say it was sparse would be a compliment. There were six small, dingy mattresses on the ground, as well as a table in the centre with a single, flicking candle. The woman caught his dismayed expression and scowled, “We don’t even have enough for us. You get what you get.”

Zuko frowned, “I thought Ba Sing Se was supposed to be better.” Jobs by the bucketful and streets paved with gold. Apparently not. 

“It is,” she said, bitterly, “Just not for us.”

Before Zuko could ask what she meant, she closed to door behind her, leaving Zuko alone in the empty room. He took a deep breath. Only a day ago, he’d been in his comfortable bed, but now he was in a cold orphanage with a dirt floor. Azula would laugh at him if she could see what had happened. She would probably tell him that he had finally found somewhere he belonged. Zuko sat down on one of the mattress, wincing as he realised there was almost no difference between it and the hard, dirt floor. 

“You’re on my bed,” A girl spoke up from the doorway. She was glaring at him, her light green eyes narrowed. She wore a light green dress that hung loosely off her small frame and her brown hair was tied in a braid that looked like it was about to fall apart. Just like everyone else in the city, she looked incredibly skinny.

Great. Another girl who would boss him around, it was just like home. Zuko stood up, “My bad.”

She nodded, looking a little surprised, “You’re new here, aren’t you?”

He shrugged, “I guess so.”

She looked a little hesitant, “New to the orphanage or new to Ba Sing Se?”

Zuko looked at her a little suspiciously, “Both?”

Her eyes widened and her voice dropped to a whisper, “Do you know anything about the war?”

Zuko frowned, “Well yeah, of course.”

“Shh!” She looked around, as if expecting someone to pop out of the doorframe, “What are you thinking? Be quiet!”

Zuko looked at her incredulously, “Why are you telling me to be quiet? Everyone knows about the war.”

She put a hand over his mouth, “You can’t talk about it!”

Zuko grabbed her hand away from him, “You are!”

“I’m not screaming about it like you are!” She groaned, “You really are new. Come here.” 

Not giving Zuko time to stand up, she grabbed his arm and yanked him towards the window. From it, he could see the busy streets, lined with shops and filled with people passing through. 

She looked through the window for a moment, before she pointed at two men, standing side by side, wearing green uniforms with a golden design on them. They stood out from the rest of the people, looking far to strong and clean to be in the outer ring, “That’s the Dai Li.You can’t talk about the war because they might hear you.”

Zuko shivered, “What happens if they hear you?”

She crossed her arms, “You disappear.”

“What?”

“It’s true. Everyone knows it — the people who talk about the war vanish. The Dai Li take them away and they’re never seen again.”

“Then why can’t we just talk here, normally? The Dai Li are so far away, I doubt they’d care. Or we could just find somewhere where there aren’t any Dai Li?”

She shook her head, “You aren’t getting it, the Dai Li are everywhere. They hear everything.”

Zuko looked at her, dubiously, “Really? I’m too old to believe in fairy tales anymore. It sounds just like the Golden Dragon.”

She frowned, “The what?”

“You know, the Golden Dragon. If you misbehave, the Golden Dragon visits you at night and lights your toys on fire,” Zuko recited. It was an old story that his mother used to tell him and Azula when there were little. It had taken Zuko months to realise that the reason all his toys were burnt was because Azula had been sneaking in, not a Golden Dragon.

She looked at him suspiciously, “Dragons? That sounds Fire Nation-y. Are you from the colonies?”

“Uh. Yes?”

“Gross.” 

Zuko recoiled. Who was she to tell him that his fake home — which she helped him make up, was gross? “Whatever. Why would I believe you?”

Her expression darkened, “The Dai Li took my parents. I was really little, but I remember them coming into my house and taking them away, before I was dumped here.”

“They must have done something bad, if they were taken away,” Zuko muttered.

She shrugged, “Maybe. I don’t know.”

“But if I tell you about the war, I might disappear.”

She scowled, “Fine. I’ll make a deal with you. Tell me about the war and in return, I’ll get you a job.”

Zuko frowned, “A job? I’m eleven. I don’t need a job.”

She raised an eyebrow, “So? I’m twelve and I have one. If you have a job, you can buy things, like blankets or food.”

“Isn’t the orphanage supposed to feed us?” He replied.

She shrugged, “If we have our own food, the little kids can eat the orphanage’s food.”

“There isn’t enough food?”

She looked at him like he was an idiot, “What do you think happens during a siege?”

Oh. Right. Ba Sing Se probably used more than just the farms within its walls to feed everyone and if the siege had cut it off from its exterior farms, then he could see the lack of food, “But the siege ended.”

“And the Fire Nation burnt so much food that it’ll take years to replenish,” she spat, “Wasteful monsters. I think they’d rather we starved to death than face us in real combat.”

Zuko frowned. He wanted to tell her that warfare was warfare, but there was something in her expression that made him stop, “Starve to death?”

She shrugged, “No one at the orphanage did. Not this one, at least. And since it’s over now, I think we’ll be okay.”

Zuko blinked. Had people starved in Ba Sing Se? “But Ba Sing Se should have surrendered before people starved.” That was the point of siege warfare, to block supplies until the territory surrendered. It had always been a given that once Ba Sing Se had exhausted its supplies, it would surrender. He’d never considered what would happen if the territory didn’t.

She looked at him, dubiously, “No. Ba Sing Se can’t surrender.”

Zuko decided not to press the point anymore, “Oh. Okay.”

“Anyways, tell me about the war,” she asked.

Zuko nodded, “And you’ll get me a job?” Azula would laugh at him if she knew that he, a Fire Nation prince, was making a deal with an Earth Kingdom orphan to get a measly job. His father would tell him he was disgracing his position. But his mother might congratulate him, tell him he was fitting in and making sure he was keeping his secret.

She nodded, holding out her hand. It took him a second to realise that she wanted him to shake it — Earth Kingdom greetings were odd. 

She smiled ever so slightly as he shook it, “I’m Wei.”

“Lee.”

He began telling her about the war — nothing that was a secret, of course. Wei was still an enemy, technically. And he wasn’t a traitor. He didn’t think he was, at least. He kept quiet, least the Dai Li heard him, all the while pretending to be from the perspective of someone from a colony. Wei listened eagerly the whole time, her attention fixed on him as he continued. Other kids slowly came into the room and settled down on their own mattresses, ears perking up when they realised what he was talking about. 

Zuko peered around the room at the kids with gaunt faces and holes in their clothes. Would he look like them soon? Or maybe he did already. He frowned. The Earth Kingdom was nothing like the Fire Nation, they would let their own starve. At least the Fire Nation would never do that to their own people. Except Zuko could remember the way his father stared at him the night before, the heat of his fire as it brushed past his face. He started feeling uneasy, a knot forming uncomfortably in his stomach. He didn’t want to think about that anymore, he decided, closing his eyes and settling down on his rock hard mattress. But he stayed awake, fire flashing through his mind whenever he closed his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for a time jump next chapter, we're jumping ahead a few years.


	3. The Street Rat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two years later, Zuko has managed to eek out a life in Ba Sing Se, but his old loyalties and assumptions about the Fire Nation come into question as he starts learning about the war outside of Ba Sing Se.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're skipping forward about two years.

Zuko slunk back to the orphanage, climbing the stairs before he collapsed onto his thin mattress. His back ached from carrying boxes and the idea of having to go back to the shops tomorrow and unload even more made him want to die. The cool air wasn’t helping either, since it just tightened his muscles even more. What he wouldn’t give for a steam room. He never valued that damn thing enough before he left the Fire Nation.

The other kids in the room were asleep at least. Ama, one of the really little ones, spent all day crying, but Zuko wouldn’t have to deal with that at least. Now that Zuko and Wei were thirteen and fourteen respectively, they were some of the oldest at the orphanage. Some of the really little ones, including Ama, tried to hug them and stuff, which Zuko had quickly dissuaded. Wei had a little more patience for them, but not much. As she explained it, “We all have to grow up sometime.”

He shivered as a cool breeze passed through the room. And just for a moment, he felt it. Warmth, rushing through his veins, the prickling sensation on his fingertips as sparks tried to form. He clenched his fists. No. He was better than this — he couldn’t bend. But to his horror, he saw sparks shoot up from his palms. 

Zuko cursed and patted the dirt ground, hoping that they would get swallowed by the dirt and not light everything on fire. It wasn’t working, he could feel the heat increasing, feel the flame trying to catch. He watched as a small flame formed, lighting up the dim room.

Ama groaned, shifting away from the light. Zuko slammed his hand against the ground, closing his eyes and begging for it to stop. Then, suddenly, it did. Just like that, the flame, the sparks and the heat vanished. Zuko tried to calm himself down — deep breaths, but he could still panic coursing through him.

“Lee?” Ama murmured, still half asleep, “What’s the light?”

“N-nothing,” he stammered, “Go back to sleep.”

She made a noise of agreement and a second later, was sleeping peacefully. That was close. Too close. It happened occasionally, when his fire bending soared out of control. Despite his best efforts, Zuko didn’t know how to make it stop. It wasn’t like there were any other fire benders in Ba Sing Se he could ask. So he had no choice but to keep hiding it and hope for the best. If anyone were to find out what he was, he’d be given to the Dai Li before he even had a shot at extinguishing the flame. 

“Is the coast clear?” Wei’s voice whispered from the doorframe. Ever since they met and Wei had landed him his first job, they’d stuck together.

Zuko nodded, “Ama’s asleep.”

“Thank the spirits,” she murmured, “I may have taken the long path back here so that I could avoid her nightly temper tantrum.”

Zuko chuckled, “They were all asleep before I got back as well.”

“That’s a miracle,” Wei laughed, “Maybe we’re finally running into some luck.”

“Well, some of us are born lucky, while others are lucky to be born,” Zuko muttered. That phrase had been a favourite of his father’s, though he was pretty sure that it was decently common in the whole Fire Nation.

“You always say that,” Wei said, “I never hear anyone else say it.”

Zuko shrugged, “Maybe it’s a Fire Nation colony thing. There aren’t many from there who get to Ba Sing Se.”

Wei shrugged, “Probably. Like that stupid Silver toy burning Dragon.”

“Golden dragon,” Zuko corrected her. The existence of Fire Nation colonies and Wei’s belief that he came from one was probably the only reason he had managed to keep his disguised as Lee, non-bending refugee intact.

“Such a weird myth. No wonder the Fire Nation is the way it is considering they grew up with weird things like that.”

“It’s just a myth,” Zuko said, “The Earth Kingdom has plenty of weird ones as well.”

“Yeah, but ours are about badger moles and moving mountains and stuff. Theirs are grotesque. I even heard that they cut the tails off of wolf-dogs to make make them more stealthy.”

“That is not true, not even the Fire Nation would do that,” Zuko remarked.

“Are you defending them?” She was grinning, but there was a hard edge to her voice. 

“No,” Zuko retorted, trying to keep a shiver out of his voice, “Why would I defend them? I ran from their colonies, remember?”

Wei laughed, “Right, sorry.” She perked up, “And, you’ll never guess what I got.”

“I’m not going to guess.”

“You’re never any fun,” Wei complained, “But, a real job. Full time. As a shop assistant.”

Zuko felt his jaw hit the floor. Even measly part time jobs like the one Wei had managed to get him were rare. Full time? Even rarer. But Wei had gotten one, “That’s great!”

“I know. It’s eight coins a week,” She said, grinning.

Zuko’s eyes widened. That paid higher than what he and Wei made together, “But you’re only fourteen.” The legal age to work full time was sixteen in the Earth Kingdom.

Wei shrugged, “I lied. And the guy offering the job didn’t really care that much.”

“Wow,” Zuko echoed. Eight coins a week. It took him weeks of saving to make that.

She nodded, “I’m pretty sure I could afford to rent an apartment. A bad one, at least with it.”

Zuko frowned, “On eight coins? There’s no way you could afford an apartment as well as food.”

She grinned, “That’s where you come in.”

“Sorry?”

“We put our money together and move out. I can sniff out more full time jobs for you, but in the meanwhile, we can buy food with your money and mine can cover the rent.”

“Deal,” Zuko nodded. He doubted an apartment they could afford on eight coins a week would be any better than the orphanage, but they wouldn’t be sharing a room with four other kids. No nightly tantrums from Ama. 

Wei stuck out her hand and Zuko shook it, both grinning. They had finally found some luck. 

* * *

The next day, Zuko’s muscles were back to aching. He lifted up a box, this one labelled soap and put it on the door stop of a shop, before he went back to the cart. It was big, stacked with boxes and cartons that needed to be delivered to various shops. The earth benders moved it from behind, while Zuko and a few other kids jumped on and off, grabbing various boxes and lugging them to storefronts.

“You there, street rat,” the supervisor looked over at Zuko, “Unload the chicken-ducks.” Street rat was a nickname for Ba Sing Se's poor and young. There were a lot of them in the city, making a meager living by doing odd jobs and stealing. 

He nodded, grabbing them and lugging them off the cart, carrying them to the storefront. Zuko was about to run back, before he noticed that the raft had stopped moving. He froze when he saw why. 

Two Dai Li agents were speaking to the supervisor. Zuko held his breath — were they looking for him? Had they finally figured out that he was a fire bender? But a moment later, the Dai Li walked away. Zuko let out a breath.

The raft continued its journey as Zuko hopped on and off carrying various shipments. On the way, he kept seeing Dai Li walking around. While they weren’t an uncommon sight, it was rare to see so many of them around. Something must have happened. 

He got his answer as he dropped off one of the shipments, as he heard a man and a woman speaking through the door. News of the war spread though the city in whispers, passed along and overheard sometimes for months until the whole city became aware.

“—Took the Asai Territory.”

Zuko froze. The term rung a bell. Even though his education in the Fire Nation had been cut short and the measly one he’d received in the Earth Kingdom was sparse at best, he could remember a few things. The Asai Territory was in the Earth kingdom. It was a strategic territory, one that was had some importance because of…Zuko faltered. He had learnt the reason a long time ago, along with dozens of other strategic territories, but it was all blank now. He tried to shake it off, he wasn’t a soldier or had any business with the military anymore, his knowledge of the Asai Territory wasn’t important. It was just leftover knowledge from another life. But still, his ears perked up as they spoke.

“The Asai Territory? Oh no,” The woman repeated, “How many soldiers died?”

“It sounds like everyone was either killed or taken prisoner,” the man told her. 

Zuko bit his lip, cringing at the idea of all those deaths. But it was warfare, he reminded himself. The Fire Nation might not always be honourable, but it was a war. Of course they couldn’t just let the soldiers go. 

“Terrible.”

“Not all bad, we took out at least a few hundred of their own soldiers as well,” the man continued, “We hit them where it hurt.”

Zuko froze. Hundreds of Fire Nation soldiers, dead?

“Good,” the woman said, “At least it wasn’t a total loss.”

“Yes. And it took two whole waves for the Fire Nation to take the territory. The first failed, but they weakened them enough that the second wave was able to take the territory.”

Zuko frowned. That was an odd strategy. The Fire Nation rarely mistook the size of an opposing army, it was one of the reasons their invasion of other territories had been so successful. So why would they bother with two waves when they could have only used one and taken the territory faster with less casualties. He went back to the cart, pondering. 

He figured it out while he was unloading, gasping and letting the heavy box slip through his fingers and land on his toes. Zuko hardly noticed the pain, or the laughs of some of the other boys. 

A distinctive memory flooded his mind, his tutor explaining why the Asai Territory hadn’t been taken yet, “It’s mountainous and well protected. Any full frontal attack would inevitably result in the Earthbenders crushing our army. That’s why it hasn’t been captured yet.”

The townspeople had said earlier that there had been two waves of attacks. Zuko paled. The Fire Nation hadn’t figured out how to prevent their army from getting crushed during an attack on the Asai Territory. They just sent two instead, allowing the first wave to be brutally killed while the second beat the worn out earth benders afterwards. Sacrifice a unit to guarantee victory. A victorious, but deadly strategy. 

Zuko knew the uncomfortable nickname given to Earth Kingdom soldiers that served on the front line. Kindling, which was the word for the little sticks and pieces of bark that caught fire easily and whose only purpose was to allow the actual logs that made up the campfire to catch fire. The Fire Nation had done the same thing, but they had turned an entire unit into kindling. 

Had the Fire Nation sacrificed an entire battalion? Hundreds of good soldiers knowingly put into a battle they had no chance at winning? Zuko remembered the cruel eyes of his father, the night he tried to kill him. Yes they would, realised, suddenly feel nauseous.

* * *

Wei didn’t believe him after he told her. She just stared at him with wide eyes and shook her head, “No. Come on, the Fire Nation wouldn’t just sacrifice all those troops. That’s insane.”

Zuko shook his head, “Are you sure?”

“I mean, like they’re monsters, but only to people from other nations. Their whole goal is a Fire Nation world, right? They wouldn’t just kill off hundreds of their own men for the Asai Territory,” Wei looked uncertain. She, like practically everyone from the Earth Kingdom, had no soft spot for the Fire Nation. But there was a line that just seemed too far. 

“You’re assuming the Fire Nation has a conscious,” Zuko said darkly, “They don’t.”

Wei looked shaken, “Lee, if they do that to their own people, what will they do to us?”

Zuko shuddered. He thought about what the Fire Nation had done to the Southern Water Tribe, decimated them just to ensure that no water bending avatar had been born there. They wouldn’t let Ba Sing Se with its thousands of earth benders fight back. He could picture Ba Sing Se, if the siege had been successful. Thousands starving, Earth benders killed and the rest lumped together with a fire bender aiming at their heads if they dared go against the Fire Lord, “I don’t think we want to find out.”

Wei bite here lip. She wasn’t easily shaken, growing up an orphan having to work and steal for anything you could get did that to people, but she was being unnaturally quiet, “But we’re safe here, aren’t we? The walls are strong, they’ll never get through.” It sounded like she was trying to reassure herself.

Zuko nodded anyways, “The siege failed. They won’t try anything again for a long time.”

Wei nodded, “No fire bender could even get into Ba Sing Se.”

Zuko frowned, uncomfortably. He had gotten into Ba Sing Se, taken a ferry underneath the walls that the Fire Nation had spent years trying to tear down. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. How long would it be before another fire bender took that same ferry? Someone who came to burn the city down? Zuko clenched his fists, feeling the familiar warmth of fire flooding his veins. He couldn’t let that happen. Ba Sing Se was strong and, with an unsettling realisation, Zuko realised that he’d do anything to make sure it stayed that way.


	4. The Fire Bender

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now sixteen years old and living peacefully in Ba Sing Se for five years, Zuko makes the dangerous assumption that he's safe inside its walls and the consequences follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another 2 year time skip

It was easy to forget that there was a war going on sometimes. With the Dai Li taking away the people who talked about it, Ba Sing Se tended to pretend it wasn’t going on. News of the war was far and few between, with whispers passing around the city, often times getting twisted and changed around the more people it passed through. Zuko had even heard, on one occasion, that a dragon had burnt the city of Omashu. It had taken everything in him to not yell at them that dragons had been extinct for decades already. But aside from whispers, Ba Sing Se lived in a world without a war.

Occasionally, the news from outside was too big to keep quiet. Zuko had noticed it a few days after his sixteenth birthday, a palpable energy to the city. It felt like that day on the ferry, all those years ago when the siege had just ended. 

Wei noticed too, “You haven’t heard what happened, have you?”

Zuko shook his head, “No.”

“Damn,” she murmured, “I wish someone would just tell me already.” 

The Dai Li stationed across the street were staring at them, so Zuko quickly tapped Wei lightly and they kept walking. Every once in a while, Zuko would noticed hidden smiles and laughter in the crowd. Wei caught it too. 

“Did we win a major battle?” Zuko asked quietly.

Wei shook her head, “I don’t think so. This feels different. Better.”

Zuko had to agree. The atmosphere of the city was shifting — as if the tension that was always there in Ba Sing Se had faded ever so slightly. The only ones who didn’t look excited were the Dai Li who seemed particularly angry today. 

They kept going to the marketplace, noticing the same thing there. Something big had happened and Zuko was itching to discover what it was. 

As they walked into the marketplace, Zuko did his best not to be overwhelmed. It was a busy place, with families all clambering around to get the best meats and clothes. Zuko was never a big fan, but Wei had spent her whole life in the chaos, so she hardly noticed it.

“We can meet in half an hour, the stalls I need to visit are on the other side of the market,” Zuko suggested.

Wei wasn’t listening. She was staring at something a little past him. Zuko looked over at what had grabbed Wei’s attention and soured. Two inner circle women were parading around, laughing at the knick knacks at various stands. They looked completely different from the kind of people in the outer ring, with their makeup and fine clothing that looked freezing cold. 

“Wei?” Zuko tapped her. Her gaze was fixed on their jewellery, which was piled high. Gemstones glittering and necklaces that were so long they reached past their waists. 

Wei blinked, “Right. Sorry.”

“I’ve to visit a stall over there, can we meet up in half an hour?” Zuko repeated.

Wei nodded, quickly manoeuvring away from him into the crowd. Zuko hesitated. He had been saving up to buy an extra blanket to stave off the cold Ba Sing Se nights, but he walked over to a jewellery stall instead. 

He peered at the stall, which was covered in necklaces, bracelets and earrings. The stall keeper looked at him doubtfully, eyeing his worn clothes, “Your scaring my customers away, street rat.”

Zuko glared up at him and shook his pouch. The sound of coins rattling inside made the shopkeeper smile, “What can I help you find, sir?”

Zuko didn’t bother giving him a scathing comment. He’d lived in Ba Sing Se long enough to know what to expect. Coins were the only thing that distinguished people from dirt here and he didn’t often have many. He’d been pocketing and saving little by little for weeks to get the blanket, but there was something about Wei’s expression that changed his mind. 

“Something small,” he offered, eyeing the prices. Zuko had managed to scrimp together fifteen coins, a full week and a half of pay, plus one more coin to buy some supper. He skipped lunch a few times, delayed buying some much needed clothes and stretched the rest of his pay to cover ten extra days. 

The shopkeeper looked unimpressed, but nodded, “Stick to this area. We have some lovely rings.”

Zuko balked, “No, no rings.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Isn’t this for a girl?”

“Well, it is, but it’s like that. I’m not marrying her or anything. We aren’t dating.”

“Ah,” the shopkeeper managed to look even more disappointed, “Kids. Hopeless.”

“Thank you,” Zuko groused. He was about to walk away, the prices were way higher than anything he could afford, before he spotted a small box on the edge of the table. He looked in it, only to see dozens of hair clips. Zuko grabbed one, running his finger over the smooth stone.

“Twenty coins,” the shopkeeper said.

Zuko sighed and put it back. His mother used to have dozens of hair clips, in all sorts of gleaming colours with gemstones and ornate designed embedded into them. He had broken one of them, when he was little and his mother had just laughed it off. How many coins had that been worth? Possibly thousands. 

He looked into the box again, a different hair clip catching his eye. It was simple, a light green with a few flowers etched into the clip. It was the least ornate one in the box, probably the only one he could afford too.Would Wei like it? She always rolled her eyes at jewellery, saying that only idiots bought useless things just because they were pretty, but the expression she had on while looking at the jewellery those rich women were wearing had caught her eye. Neither of them ever got nice things. It was hard to justify buying a softer blanket or a silky shirt when they struggled to feed themselves. But he’d grown up with that. Wei had never even touched something like it. 

So Zuko made up his mind, “This one?”

“Hmm. Seventeen.”

“Seventeen?” Zuko repeated, “Come on. It’s no where near as nice as the one that was for twenty coins.”

The shopkeeper sighed, “Sixteen.”

Zuko frowned. He was saving his last coin to pay for some food. But he nodded, “Alright.” He tossed the coins onto the counter and put the hair clip in a pocket. It was certainly lighter than his sixteen coins had been.

He met back up with Wei twenty minutes later, her bag full of heavy cloth. 

“What about your blanket?” She asked.

Zuko shrugged, “They raised the prices,” he lied.

Wei scowled, “Bastards.” The prices had been getting higher and higher recently. They both tried to dismiss it on asshole merchants, but there were whispers that the prices were higher because the Fire Nation was getting closer. Zuko hoped it wasn’t true — nothing good ever came out of the Fire Nation coming to Ba Sing Se, but he had a pit in his stomach. 

“Do you want to go to the fountain?” Wei suggested, “We might be able to figure out what’s been going on there.”

Zuko agreed and they made their way to a half hidden Square, tucked behind two decaying and abandoned buildings. There was a small fountain in the middle that didn’t even work half the time, as well as a few benches scattered around. Little lights shone everywhere, making the water shimmer ever so slightly.

Wei sat on the edge of the fountain and grabbed a small sandwich she must have bought at the market, “Aren’t you going to eat?”

Zuko scratched the back of his neck, “Uh. I’m not hungry.”

She looked at him, suspiciously, “You always eat like a moose-horse.”

Zuko shrugged, but his stomach growled loudly. 

Wei raised an eye. She divided her sandwich offering him half, “Take it.”

“I can’t.”

She rolled her eyes, “We used to share all the time.”

Back when they had only just moved out of the orphanage and all of Wei’s money went towards rent and Zuko’s towards food, there had been a lot of hungry evenings where it just didn’t stretch. A few weeks of sharing meals until Zuko had managed to score a full time job. So Zuko reluctantly took it, groaning when he realised what was in it.

Wei giggled, “Right, it has cabbages in it.”

“I’m aware,” Zuko replied.

“Well maybe next time don’t forget to buy food and you can have a sandwich you like,” She teased, “How in the world did you forget to buy food anyways? You were gone for at least twenty minutes.”

Zuko felt the hair clip in his pockets. His hands felt strangely clammy, but he grabbed it and held it up to Wei, “I was busy getting this.”

Wei’s eyes went wide. She held the hair clip gingerly, as if it was pure gold instead of a little fifteen coin trinket. She ran a finger over the hair clip, smiling when she noticed the little flower design etched into it, “I can’t take this.”

“I can’t return it,” Zuko replied.

She shook her head, “It’s too expensive. Lee, we can’t afford to buy stupid little trinkets just because they look pretty.”

“It’s not just pretty,” Zuko replied. He grabbed a strand of hair that had fallen out of Wei’s loose braid and clipped it to her hair, “It’s useful.”

Wei was smiling, “I could just buy a wooden one for cheap.” The hair clip matched her eyes perfectly. 

“My Mom used to have a bunch of them,” Zuko told her, “She always wore them in her hair, every day.”

Wei softened. She reached out and grabbed his hand, “Thank you. I love it, really. I’ve never had anything like it before.”

Zuko decided right there and then that a stupid little trinket was worth more than a new blanket could have been. Her fingers were cold against his own and she wasn’t pulling her hand away. 

For a brief moment, Zuko wondered what he was supposed to do next. It felt right, to have Wei’s hand in his, but before he had a chance, a portly middle aged man came sprinting through the square.

“The Avatar is awake!” He shouted at the top of his lungs, “The Avatar is back!”

Zuko froze. The Avatar had been gone for a hundred years. He’d been half convinced that the Fire Nation had managed to permanently kill the Avatar, either that or there was some hermit Avatar camped out in the Water Tribe. 

Wei gasped. She smiled widely, pulling Zuko up from the fountain and hugging him tight, “He’s back!”

Zuko was still too stunned to say anything. This changed everything — they might have a shot against the Earth Kingdom now. A real ability to kill his father. To finally end the war that had been going on for generations. So he hugged Wei tighter, fin ally understanding the joyous energy that had been pulsing in the city since that morning, “We should go,” he finally told her, “There’s no way the Dai Li aren’t following that guy.”

That sobered Wei up. She glanced around them, warily, as if expecting one of them to leap out at them, “You’re right.” They were making their way out of the square until Zuko caught a glimpse of a shadow rushing towards them. He grabbed Wei’s hand, practically dragging her into one of the abandoned buildings in front of the square. 

He held a finger to her lips as a symbol to be quiet. Outside the window, four Dai Li agents stood, blocking all the exits. 

The portly man looked suddenly worried, glancing between all if them, “You’ve heard the good news?”

The Dai Li did not respond. Instead, before Zuko could blink, the earth reached up and wrapped itself around the man’s wrists.

Next to him, Wei gasped. Zuko squeezed her hand slightly. They kept watching as the Dai Li surrounded him.

“Please,” the portly man said, “Isn’t this a good thing? We should celebrate — the war is ending!”

“There is not war in Ba Sing Se,” one of them replied, his voice steely. 

Wei shuddered. Zuko clenched his fists. The Dai Li had taken her own parents away when she was small and she’d always been afraid of them. They continued watching with rapt attention as they escorted the portly man away. Zuko could feel a rage building up inside him, flooding through his veins.

Wei looks up at him, “They just took him away.”

Zuko winced, “They don’t care about us.”

“He didn’t do anything bad,” she said. 

“Well, he did go against the Dai Li,” Zuko replied.

Wei looked at him, confused, “Are you defending them?”

“No!” Zuko replied, “But he should have known what would happen.” Flashes of the last night he’d spent in the Fire Nation appeared before his eyes. His father, coming at him in the middle of the night with a handful of flames. 

Wei frowned, “You’re hand is hot.”

“You’re always cold,” he replied absentmindedly.

She shook her head, “No, it’s really hot.” She tugged her hand out of his. Zuko realised too late — the rage he felt in his veins, it was fire. He turned away from Wei just in time for sparks to fly out if his hands. No, no, this couldn’t be happening. He tried to press his palms against the table to extinguish the flames, but to his horror they kept growing.

“Are you okay?” Wei asked, her voice small. 

“Fine!” Zuko shouted, desperately trying to calm down his inner fire. It wasn’t working. He flinched back as the tablecloth caught fire.

Wei shrieked, “Fire! Fire!” 

“A candle,” Zuko managed to say, “I was lighting it and it fell over!”

Wei didn’t look like she cared enough. Her eyes were wide as the fire continued to spread. Zuko stared in horror as his own hands seemed to catch fire, flames spitting out from everywhere,

“We need to get out!” She screamed, “Come on!” And without really looking, Wei reach out her her hand and grabbed Zuko’s. Her scream was the loudest he’d ever heard, pure pain mixed with fear. She recoiled instantly, but Zuko could already see the damage. The hand she used to grab Zuko’s was blackened, smoke curling off it. The skin looking like it was peeling away, Zuko could ever see a hint of bone peeking out, and the smell of burning meat was in the air. He gasped — had he done that?

Out of the corner of Zuko’s eye, he saw a shadow. The Dai Li, he realised. He was still bending, barely managing to hide them from Wei, who was staring at her burnt hand in horror. If he didn’t leave now, he’d be captured and taken, like everyone else the Dai Li found. 

Wei was hyperventilating, still shrieking, eyes wide with fear and panic. The Dai Li was getting closer, it all felt like when he was eleven years old and watching his father bring his burning hand to kill him. So Zuko made a split second decision and leaped out of the opposite window, crouching outside the burning building as he heard the Dai Li enter. 

A crowd had gathered outside the burning house and Zuko watched in horror as he saw Wei leave, escorted by the Dai Li agents. She was shrieking and screaming, struggling against them, but they easily lugged her into the waiting cart and within seconds, she was gone.

Zuko stared at the disappearing spec in the distance. Never fire bend again, his mother’s warning rang in his head. He looked down at his own hands, which were now back to normal, as if they hadn’t just burnt his only friend and condemned her to the Dai Li. And then he’d ran and abandoned her. Just like any Fire Nation soldier would do: Kill and burn with no regard for the consequences. Fire could do nothing but hurt and destroy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone,  
> I'm super happy at the reception this story has gotten so far and at the direction this story is going, especially as it has finally caught up to the beginning of the series.   
> I'm always open to feedback and hearing what people think about my writing and plot etc.  
> Hope you keep reading!


	5. The Loner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko knows the truth: No one the Dai Li takes ever comes back, but he still struggles between moving on or doing what he can to find her. But the truth, at the end of the day, is better than the reality.

Zuko hadn’t moved from his spot in the alleyway. He should have ran after her, should have screamed and yelled so that they’d have taken him away instead of her. But he was a coward, a selfish coward who had ran away while Wei was taken. Instead, he’d stayed put, half terrified that the Dai Li would circle back and arrest him as well. 

It was dawn by the time that Zuko began moving again, checking to make sure the Dai Li weren’t nearby, before he joined the crowd in the streets. There was some soot on his clothes, but he didn’t look out of place amongst the grimy factory workers that were heading home after a long night of work. Zuko ducked down and joined them.

He walked by the square that he and Wei had been in last night. The abandoned and now half burnt building was empty and everyone was giving it a wide berth. He could still smell the scent of smoke. Unfortunately, the world didn’t seem to care that his life had gone to shit or that Wei was gone. His stomach growled and he was distantly aware that he was missing work at the moment — at best, he’d lose the few coins he’d need to buy supper. 

Zuko knew it was useless to even hope that she’d appear. The people that the Dai Li took never came back. They never left a trace and no one knew where they went. But he was still hoping that when he opened the door to their shabby apartment that she’d be inside, glaring at him for waking him up and forcing him to cook her breakfast as an apology. 

Instead, he was greeted by an empty apartment. Wei’s bag was sitting on a chair, while her bed was still unmade and the unwashed cup of tea she’d finished just before they’d left sat by the table. He’d grumbled to her about washing it, but she’d just grinned and rolled her eyes. She was gone now, just like that. 

He left the apartment shortly after, without Wei there, it felt almost haunted. He should have gone to work, but he couldn’t be bothered. It didn’t matter that the night before he’d spent the only savings he had and was now penniless, Wei was gone, because of him. Zuko groaned, sitting on the ground. 

He went back to his empty apartment, hungry and tired, shivering through the night. Zuko looked over at Wei’s empty bed and just for a second, wondered if he could take her blankets, but he stopped himself. Wei was still out there and it felt wrong to grab her stuff when she could pop through the door at moment’s notice. So instead he curled up under how own thin one, staying cold.

The next morning, he woke up starving. He’d spent all his money on the hair clip the night before and he’d missed work yesterday, meaning that his merger pay would be even smaller than usual. He made his way down to work, only to be greeted frown when he noticed a new worker, doing his job.

“The hell have you been, Street Rat?” Chung, his boss, glared at him.

Zuko shrugged, “I’m here now.”

“Well, it’s too late to come crying to me. You miss a shift, you get replaced.”

Zuko’s eyes widened, “No!”

Chung raised an eyebrow, “I need dependable workers. You ain’t it, kid. Now piss off.”

“It won’t happen again, I promise,” Zuko hated begging, but he was desperate. He couldn’t find Wei if he wasn’t able to feed himself and she’d kill him for losing their apartment. 

“Oh yeah? What’s the reason then, did Grandma die? Or was big brother recruited into the Earth army? I’ve heard ‘em all,” Chung mocked.

Zuko clenched his fist, but stopped quickly — he couldn’t have another fire related incident. He needed to control himself, “It’s my roommate, she, uh, disappeared.”

“Aw, the little skinny girl who’d wait for you sometimes?”

“Yeah.”

Chung smirked, “Heartbreak isn’t an excuse.”

“She didn’t break up with me!” Zuko yelled, “It wasn’t her fault!”

“Oh so her handsome ex boyfriend kidnapped her?” Chung continued to mock, “Or, let me guess, it was the Dai Li?”

Zuko looked around warily, but there weren’t any Dai Li around. 

Chung seemed to catch his worried expression, “Shit, street rat, really?”

Zuko dropped his voice, “Two nights ago.”

“Tough luck,” Chung said, but there was a hint of sympathy in his voice. Zuko wasn’t surprised by the reaction — Ba Sing Se was tough like that. If you stumbled, the person behind you wouldn’t stop to help you stand up again, instead they’d trample you. The Dai Li took people all the time and even though it hurt to think, Wei was no different. Just another street rat disappearing, he doubted that anyone aside from him would even notice, “Though the tea place in the market is looking for a new server,” Chung finished.

By the next day, he was the proud employee of Fein’s Tea, a small stand that only seemed to get three customers a day. He felt absolutely useless standing there, occasionally pouring tea into a cup and giving it to a customer. Wei was out there and he was wasting precious time just delivering tea. But he had no idea where Wei was — no one knew, aside from the ominous ‘Lake Laogai’ excuse people murmured occasionally. He was sure there must be people, not including the Dai Li, who knew where she was, but he had no clue where they were. But he’d find her — he needed to.

The days continued passing by. Zuko listened for whispers about the Dai Li, but the only news passing around the city concerned the Avatar, who was meant to be somewhere in the North Pole. The Dai Li didn’t seem suspicious of him, but Zuko was reluctant to go up to them and ask about her whereabouts, he doubted they’d mind grabbing him as well. 

Three loud knocks on his door. Zuko, half asleep, answered it and regretted it immediately. 

His landlord was glaring at him, “The rent is late.”

“I’ll have it soon,” Zuko replied.

“It’s two weeks late, kid. I want it now.”

“But my roommate, she’ll be back soon and I can’t rent it out to someone else or lose it,” Zuko tried to explain.

“That’s not my problem,” the landlord continued, “I’ll give you three more days and if you don’t have it, get the Dai Li in here myself to toss you out.”

Zuko shook her head, “You don’t understand — she was taken by them.”

The landlord raised an eyebrow, “And you think she’ll make it back? Come on, the people who get taken never come back — not right, at least, they don’t. Get over it and just get a new roommate.”

Zuko scowled, “I’ll have the money.” He slammed the door shut. Wei’s stuff was still piled around the apartment, he hadn’t touched any of it, despite the layer of dust that was beginning or form. The idea of having someone else living in the apartment wasn’t any good. It was still his and Wei’s apartment and if he replaced her, that would be practically announcing that he had given up on her. Zuko felt his stomach growl, reminding him of how he’d been scraping by on one meal a day. He couldn’t afford more than that and still pay rent. Zuko looked over to Wei’s empty bed. The nights had grown steadily colder and her blankets were still there, keeping the sheets warm. 

He scowled — was he really considering giving up on Wei for some warmer blankets? And with a scary clarity, he realised that he really was. It had been longer than a month since he’d burnt her and gotten her taken by the Dai Li and deep down, he knew that no one came back from the Dai Li. So, ignoring the twisted feeling he felt all over, Zuko began looking for a new roommate. 

* * *

Zuko woke up at sunrise. He opened his eyes as the sun rose up, light flooding his small room through various holes in the wall. He felt the pull of the sun, urging him to light a flame, to make the winter of the Earth Kingdom bearable. Zuko almost did, just like he did every morning. He reached his hands out in front of him and just for a moment, just for one tiny second of his life, he felt the fire coursing through his veins, ready and eager to burn. Then, he curled his hands into fists and tried his best to extinguished it before it could become visible, least he burnt everything down again. 

Wei crossed his mind, her shrill scream was still echoing through his head. He scowled, mourning her was useless. He had a day of work ahead of him and thinking about Wei would only make him angry. He quickly gathered up his clothing, an old green shirt and pants to match. He frowned as he stuck his finger through one of the many holes in them. Zuko’s mediocre sewing skills couldn’t mend them and he still didn’t have enough money to pay a seamstress to do it for him. 

He walked to the mirror and looked into it, quickly washing his face. He glowered when he looked at his eyes, pale gold. They were the only sign he hadn’t been able to erase that showed he was different. Fire Nation. They were cruel and cold, menacing to people who looked at him. It was proof that he hadn’t always been Lee, non bending refugee. 

He barely thought about his life before Ba Sing Se anymore. It was almost like a dream, with princes and rich foods, evil sisters and plotting fathers. Some days, he could almost convince himself it was one, until he saw his cold golden eyes in a mirror or felt the sun screaming at him to make a flame. The illusion was broken then. He could never properly be Lee, non bending refugee, not that he deserved it. Anyone descended from Fire Nation monsters didn’t, much less the son of the Fire Lord himself. Zuko heard the door creak open. 

“Morning,” His roommate, Taiyo, stumbled into their apartment. He was a scrawny guy, another refugee from the Earth Kingdom, but he was nice enough. They hardly ever saw each other due to their opposite schedules, but Zuko could see that he looked awful, or more awful than usual at least. The dark circles around his eyes seemed worse than normal and there was definitely a new rip in his clothing. His hair was falling out of it’s loose bun; greasy, knotted strands falling to his mid back. 

“Rough night?” Zuko asked.

Taiyo nodded, “Factory had a stop. We had to wait three hours to start working again. Unpaid, of course and to get our full pays for today we have to arrive three hours early tonight.”

Zuko sighed, “At least you're home now.”

Taiyo breathed an agreement before he collapsed onto the bed, “You should go. It’s almost five.”

Zuko nodded, “I’ll see you tonight. Pick up a few oranges if you can, we’re running out of fruits.”

Taiyo waved his hand at Zuko, already half asleep, “Go. I‘m tired.”

“Yeah, see you later, Taiyo,” He opened the door and walked out. Zuko left his shabby apartment building, greeting the sight of Ba Sing Se with a scowl. The streets were limping to life. A merchants or two were getting set up on the sides of streets and few stragglers from night shifts were stumbling half asleep to their home. Zuko could spot one or two other early wakers. their eyes still blurry with sleep and they were yawning every other minute. Ba Sing Se wasn’t for the early bird, that was sure. He was always ready to run a marathon, or start a fight at this time, as long as the sun was up as well. The rest of Ba Sing Se, however, seemed to agree that mornings were for suffering, while afternoons were lively. 

Zuko walked to his job. He was a a simple waiter at a local tea shop. The tea was shit and the pay was worse, but with the rate the refugees were coming in, he was lucky to even have a job at all, so he didn’t dare complain, not when a simple mention of him getting a raise to his boss would get him thrown onto the streets. There wasn’t a shortage of eager workers desperate for a job that would readily line up at Jamoshi’s Tea if news of a open spot. 

He checked in at 4:45, giving him enough time to throw on his apron and set up some tables with cutlery. 

“Good morning, Lee,” Jamoshi, his boss, greeted him. He was a short man, with a long, grey beard that was half the size of his body. He always wore the same foul smelling robes that made customers retch when ever they met him. Zuko had long discovered the secret of not breathing when he approached the man.

“And to you,” He answered politely.

Jamoshi walked towards the kitchens, “Help me out with the jasmine tea, Lee.”

Zuko headed to the kitchen, quickly getting the herbs needed. He set up the fire, eyeing the flames and making sure they weren’t acting odd. Occasionally, he’d see them gravitate towards him or spark up. He caught sight of the road. They were more crowded now, as low level workers began to walk towards their jobs.

“Jamoshi? The water is ready,” He said, heading back to the main part of the restaurant. 

The old man hurried to the tea, “You only heated the water?” 

Zuko nodded, “Of course.” He had discovered early on that he wasn’t the most gifted tea maker. Jamoshi had agreed immediately, banning Zuko from doing anything other than boiling water and serving it. Zuko had barely resisted telling him that his tea wasn’t anything to compare it too, but he kept his mouth shut. He had already been fired from two jobs for his unwanted opinions and money was running short.

“Good, now open us up,” He said.

Zuko wandered to the door and hung the sigh on the door. We’re open! It stated in elegant writing. It took a while, but slowly customers began to enter the shop, begging for a nice, warm tea to wake them up. Zuko served them, keeping quiet all the time. He heard snippets of conversations.

“—And she bothered to even show up,” A loudmouthed teenage girl complained.

“Did you hear that there was a fight in the streets the other day?” A pair of mother said to each other. Gossip was always lively at his job. No one noticed the server listening in. He knew the secrets of most of his regulars.

Zuko crossed the floor to get to the two old men on the edge of the restaurant. They were dressed more richly than anyone else, probably middle class. Zuko narrowed his eyes, he knew that everyone above lower class thought of them as rats, so why had they come here? They certainly weren’t regulars.

“Can I take your orders?” He asked, with a charming smile on his face. 

One of the men scowled, “A jasmine.”

“One for me too, boy,” The other responded rudely. Zuko didn’t let the smile fall off his face. He desperately needed the tips and if these people really were middle class, they could give him more than the average customer. 

Zuko relayed the order to Jamoshi, before picking up three cups to give to a trio of tired looking workers. On the way back, he passed the two old men again.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” One of them asked, looking utterly outraged, “The Avatar is in Ba Sing Se and you didn’t know?”

Zuko’s eyebrows flew up, the Avatar was in Ba Sing Se? From the scraps of news he’d heard from other refugees, as well as the whispers, Zuko knew that the Avatar was supposed to be a boy, still twelve years old, not the wise old man people had suspected him of being for so long. 

“Really? The Avatar?” 

The man nodded, “Yeah and I heard he can defeat he Fire Nation.”

The words sparked something in Zuko. He stepped closer to the men.

“Really?” The other man sounded doubtful.

The first man nodded, “I heard that he singlehandedly destroyed the Fire Nation Navy and killed one of their generals.”

Zuko wasn’t the only listening anymore. A few other customers had gone quiet, their eyes fixed on the pair.

“The whole navy?” The other asked, disbelief lacing his voice. 

The first man nodded, just as a Dai Li walked into the store. Everyone went quiet. He could see the bright, alarmingly bright green eyes of the man. He felt uncomfortable even looking at them. Their eyes were inhuman, too bright, too hard. No one liked looking them in the eye.

Zuko went up to him, “Sit anywhere.” He could remember the way they looked when they grabbed Wei, how it had only taken them seconds and then he hadn’t seen her again.

The Dai Li looked around the shop, scanning each table, each person. People stiffened when he looked at them, one little girl even dropped her tea on the floor, making a loud crash. Her mother gripped her arm, pulling her behind her. 

The Dai Li didn’t even react, all he did was leave the shop and exit onto the bristling street. People let out the breath they were holding. A small crowd quickly left the restaurant, even the two middle class men. Zuko cursed the Dai Li. Their presence always sent business away and less business meant less money. Jamoshi hated them too, but he was able to hide in the kitchen until they went away. Only a few customers were left in the shop and most of them drank their tea as quickly as possible, before leaving the pitiful amount of payment on the table. The prices of tea had gone down again, in order to try and get more business. All it had been doing was making them loose money, but lately, it seemed that all the businesses were loosing money. 

As the day went on, Zuko tried to forget about the Avatar. and the Dai Li visit. It was useless to hope that a twelve year old boy could even hope to defeat the Fire Lord. He dismissed the prick of hope that the war might be ending soon, a hundred years of violence wouldn’t be solved by a twelve year old.

Work ended at nine and Zuko began walking to his house. Taiyo was probably at work already, though to tell the truth, Zuko didn’t really mind. He would enjoy having the apartment to himself. He stopped by the market, which was already closed, sighing to himself because Taiyo was known for forgetting most things. He was about to leave when he spotted a familiar looking girl.

For a moment, he could have sworn it was Wei, but when he looked closer, Zuko noticed that she was wearing a long, pale robe and had her hair pinned up in an elaborate hairstyle. He scowled, it was just another Joo Dee. He came across them occasionally, generally escorting inner circle people around the outer circle. He was about to go back down the alleyway, before he noticed the green hair clip she was wearing. He felt his stomach drop, it was the same hair clip that he’d bought all those months ago. And his horror, he realised that underneath the uniform, she was unmistakably Wei.

“Wei!” He called out, before he could think twice.

She didn’t turn, instead just continuing to peer around the square.

Zuko tapped her on the shoulder, “Wei?”

She turned around and Zuko flinched. Her eyes were almost scary to look at, they were just so blank, empty. Emotionless. The opposite of the Dai Li’s too bright eyes, her were faded. She was smiling widely — too widely and her eyes, once narrow and distrusting, now looked wide and friendly, “Hello, my name is Joo Dee. Can I be of assistance?”

He took a shaky step back, “Wei?” He knew it was her. She had the same slightly crooked nose from when she broke it when they were twelve, as well as the small birthmark on her neck. The hair clip was the same one he’d bought her on the night she’d been disappeared. But her voice was almost emotionless, the same voice that they both used to make fun of before and she looked at him like he was a perfect stranger.

“You must have mistaken me for someone else,” she replied, “My name is Joo Dee.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see two Dai Li move from the shadows, stepping towards them. 

“Right,” Zuko wanted to throw up, “My bad.” He’s been looking for Wei for weeks, only to leave her as soon as he found her. Was she even Wei? Or just another Joo Dee now? 

She nodded at him, still smiling terrifyingly wide and Zuko saw the corner of her sleeve flick up. Her hand was covered in bandages, it was the same hand she’d tried to grab him with before. All Zuko could do was stare at the edges, where the burn peaked out underneath the bandages that were still red and raw looking, before he backed away, turned and fled. He could hear her small footsteps following him, so he ran faster, sprinting though alleyways and over fences to get away. He couldn’t face her, not with her blank eyes and the flower pin in her hair. 

Zuko didn’t stop until he got to his apartment. He threw himself inside and locked the door behind him. He panted as he looked out the window, where two Dai Li agents were staring at his window. Zuko quickly recoiled from the window, collapsing onto the mattress, catching his breath.

He had a restless sleep, the image of the fire, the burn on Wei’s hand rough against his skin, her blank eyes that just oozed blame. He turned and twisted in his threadbare sheets as he dreamt of Wei’s empty green eyes staring at him, the flames licking her hand as she screamed in pure pain, the sparks flying through the air and the thick smoke filling the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is speeding up - the Aang is in Ba Sing Se and Zuko is beginning to have to confront some horrific realities.  
> Let me know how you're feeling about the story, any feedback is appreciated.  
> Also, I finally learnt how to make a line break, so hopefully some of the time skips within chapters are more clear now.


	6. The Waiter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now knowing exactly what happened to Wei, as well as getting an idea as to what might be happening to the Avatar, Zuko is forced to begin wondering exactly where his allegiance lies and what his role might be during the war.

The person who said ignorance was bliss deserved a raise, Zuko decided. As awful as the thought of Wei being dead was, it was better than knowing the truth. At least if they’d killed her she still would have been herself, but instead she was just a husk, blindly serving the needs of the Dai Li without a single trace of the real Wei left. No one deserved that fate and as much as it pained him to say, at least the Fire Nation had never done that to their own. 

Zuko gazed out the window. It was early morning, still mostly dark, but the sun was just managing to peak over the tall houses. The night shift stragglers were still coming in, exhausted and half asleep. He was already dressed, ready for another day of work. Taiyo would be stumbling in any minute and Zuko would be taking off for another day on his feet.

“Hey, man,” Taiyo greeted him, the bags under his eyes darker and his skin paler than usual, “You alright? It looks like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Zuko shuddered, “I — You know the girl who used to be my roommate?”

Taiyo frowned, “Yeah, what about her?”

“I saw her yesterday.”

“Tough break,” Taiyo sounded somewhat sympathetic, “Seeing your girl after a breakup, that’s rough.”

“She wasn’t my girlfriend,” he answered reflexively, “And we didn’t break up.”

Taiyo rolled his eyes, “Right, sure.”

“She was a Joo Dee.”

Taiyo recoiled at his words with good reason. He was a street rat, like Zuko, he had probably heard the same stories growing up, about how the people the Dai Li took never reappeared and if they did, they were different, empty, “A Joo Dee?”

“Her eyes were empty,” he said, “It was her though.”

“Shit,” Taiyo winced, “That’s — I’m real sorry.” His words were halfhearted, not that Zuko expected any different. It’s not like he’d ever known her, but street rats tended to be a more wary of that Dai Li than others for that exact reason. No one ever missed them, so the Dai Li just took as they wanted until kids became nothing more than ghosts and half remembered names.

Zuko just shook his head, “I’ve got to get to work.”

The news of the Avatar spread quickly. Working as a waiter, Zuko often caught the local gossip, who was sleeping with who, who broke up with who and who was cheating on who. But today, it was all buzz with the Avatar. In a table close to a window, two friends were avidly talking about it.

“I heard he’s really handsome,” A teenager girl relayed to her friend, talking in an excited voice.

“Isn’t he twelve or something?” A friend of hers asked.

The first girl bit her lip, “I can wait a few years, right? Maybe he just looks young.”

In another corner, Zuko could spot a few farmers.

“Reckon the Avatar can get it to rain soon?” One of them, a gruff man who visited Jamoshi’s Tea often, asked his friends.

Another shrugged, “He can control water can’t he? And with the drought going on we’ll need it.”

A third scowled, “Like the Avatar would help anyone but himself. He’s been hiding out for a hundred years, letting the Fire Nation kill people like us.”

Zuko almost tripped when he heard him say that. Sure, animosity towards the Avatar wasn’t unheard of, but straight out hatred? It sounded just like something out of one of the Fire Nation history books. He always felt uncomfortable whenever someone said something like that. The Earth Kingdom was supposed to be different. They were supposed to be the good guys, the ones who were victims. 

“Lee!” Jamoshi called, startling him out of his thoughts, “Four jasmines!” 

Zuko ran over to the counter and grabbed them, delivering them to the customers. 

On his lunch break, all he heard was the news about the Avatar. Most of it seemed to be completely ridiculous. One rumour he heard was about how he managed to save an entire family while battling half the fire nation army while having a broken leg. It was ridiculous. Everyone was making a twelve year old into some kind of war hero, even if he wasn’t. They were just desperate for someone to help them. 

Zuko looked across the street a few hours later, only to see a new poster added to the wall behind in front of the store. It was a lost sign, looking for some weird flying moose thing with a weird amount of legs. Zuko sighed, everyone knew not to put posters up. It was against the Dai Li. But then he noticed who was looking for it : the Avatar. He almost laughed. The avatar lost his pet flying moose-bird! And these people thought he would save them from the Fire Nation. 

He spent the rest of the day pondering how on earth the Avatar managed to loose a gigantic creature. It was a good distraction from the boring task of serving tea, but slowly, he became more and more confused. Flying moose-birds don’t just disappear, do they? And how would it have disappeared in Ba Sing Se? There were eyes everywhere, the Dai Li looked everywhere. They would have found it in an instant for the Avatar. 

He glanced outside again a little later, balancing four teacups of tea against his chest. Two Dai Li were standing in front of the sign, tearing it down. Zuko paused, staring as he realised exactly what happened. The only real possibility was that the Dai Li were involved its disappearance.

Of course it was the Dai Li, it was always the Dai Li. But still, Zuko felt an uncomfortable twinge in his stomach at the idea. They were supposed to be helping the Avatar, we’re they? Providing training and gearing up to actually have a chance at defeating the Fire Lord. At the very least, shouldn’t they just ignore him — it wasn’t like the Avatar was a citizen of Ba Sing Se and they couldn’t make him disappear without everyone noticing. The Dai Li were awful, but they were Earth Kingdom. 

It had been a long accepted truth in Ba Sing Se that wasn’t Fire Nation was an ally, even the pitiful help from the Water Tribe. Zuko had heard whispers of rival villagers uniting to stand a chance against an invading army, as well as rumours of destructive rebels being tolerated since although they were hurting members of the Earth Kingdom, they were hurting the Fire Nation as well. By closing time, Zuko had spent his entire shift wondering what the Dai Li wanted with the flying moose. 

When he did leave, it was later than usual, Jamoshi had asked him to work an extra hour. Zuko hadn’t dared to refuse, he knew exactly how easily Jamoshi could fire him and lose nothing. So he stayed, feeling drained by the time he was allowed to go home. He never felt very good during the night. Always tired and droopy. He supposed that was what you were supposed to feel like, but compared to the lively biannual festivals that took place around evening and the dozens of crowds talking and laughing on the street, Zuko felt out of place. 

“Hey, Taiyo,” he greeted.

Taiyo looked up at him, “Hey?” 

Zuko frowned, “You haven’t heard anything about the Dai Li, have you?”

Taiyo narrowed his eyes, “You aren’t planning on doing anything stupid, are you?”

“No,” he lied.

Taiyo didn’t look like he believed him, “Sure. You find out that that girl is now a Joo Dee a few hours ago and now you’re asking whether I know anything about the Dai Li.”

“It’s a simple question,” Zuko glared at him.

Taiyo scowled, “Why would you think I knew anything in the first place?”

Zuko shrugged, “I don’t have any leads,” he admitted.

Taiyo shook his head at him, “Maybe that’s a sign. No one who screws with the Dai Li tell of it.”

“So you’ve heard nothing then, not of Lake Laogai?” Zuko pressed.

Taiyo stiffened when he heard the term, looking around the room like he expected a Dai Li agent to pop out of the walls, “No,” he lied, unconvincingly.

Zuko scowled — Taiyo was proving to be nothing more than a dead end. 

He considered his options. Best case scenario, he could tell the Avatar what he knew. Help him find his flying moose-bird and get him out of Ba Sing Se, but he was probably comfy inside the upper ring and Zuko had no chance of getting into there. On the other hand, he could just ignore it and continue on with his life, but that idea itched Zuko’s head. It wasn’t honourable.

So what else was there to do? Find the thing himself? On a normal night, Zuko would of laughed at himself for thinking that for a minute. But tonight wasn’t normal. He was tired and itching with unrest. Wei’s face with her blank eyes and the bandages on her burnt hand were still in his head. He had been wanting to strike back against the Fire Nation for a long time now, get revenge for hurting these refuges. His mind decided, Zuko knew where he was going.

The first thing he needed to do was figure out where the Dai Li was keeping the flying moose. There weren’t many places in Dai Li to keep something of that size, especially since it’s noises would probably alert the public that something was up. The Dai Li would never do that. So, where could they keep it? Zuko spotted two Dai Li walking on the street. They were both staring straight ahead, their expressions vacant. Zuko glared at them, trying to focus. 

Finally, he reached clarity. Why would the flying moose be different from any other person in Ba Sing Se? When the Dai Li wanted to make someone disappear, they stuck them in, well, wherever they stuck them. And if the Dai Li wanted to make a gigantic flying moose who also happened to be the Avatar’s pet disappear, they’d stick him in the same place. All he needed to do was find Lake Laogai and the flying moose-bird would be there.

Zuko really hoped he was right. If he wasn’t, well he’d find out just what the place the Dai Li sent people to anyways, but he’d be a prisoner as well. He could still back out. Go back to his apartment, wake up the next morning and go back to Jamoshi’s for another day of work. There wasn’t a reason not to, he had a good life in Ba Sing Se. He had a home and a job, why should he throw it all away for a twelve year old boy who was content to sit out the war while thousands were killed? 

He knocked over a kettle, water spilling over the floor and onto his shoes. Zuko sighed and cursed himself for being so distracted and shook his foot, trying to get the water out of his shoe, when he glimpsed himself in the water, with his golden eyes staring back at him. Fire Nation eyes, the eyes of killers and of burners.

It steeled his will. The people he shared his blood with had killed people, burnt down entire villages and reduced a once thriving kingdom to what it was now. He had to help the Avatar, prove it to himself that he wasn’t like them. Make up for the crimes his family had committed. Make up for what he did to Wei.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a little shorter than usual, but wow, Zuko is actually going to take action. So we'll see what happens and how he plans to figure out where Lake Laogai actually is -- can't be too hard, right? Not like literally no one in Ba Sing Se knows.


	7. The Searcher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With his mind set on retrieving the Avatar's pet flying moose, Zuko embarks on a dangerous mission that threatens the little safety he has left in Ba Sing Se.

Zuko spent the better part of an hour trying to figure out the likely locations the Dai Li would throw the people they make disappear into. After coming up with hundreds of bad ideas, Zuko realised how impossible it was. It wasn’t like he could ask many people for help — no one liked talking about the Dai Li and Zuko didn’t want to link anyone else to him in case the Dai Li caught him. So he spend most of the day trying to figure out what Lake Laogai was, but that lead didn’t help either. There were no lakes in Ba Sing Se, so once again he was left with nothing. He knew there were a lot of government buildings, but none of them big enough to hide a giant flying moose without people noticing.

Surely, he hadn’t been the first to try to figure out where it was. Frustrated, Zuko kicked a rock across the street. Between all the people who went missing, there must have been a few to have been found. Though if the people who disappeared all ended up like Wei, he wasn’t sure that anyone would really even try to get them back. Then, he formed his single good idea. He didn’t know where Lake Laogai was, but he knew someone who did.

It was an insane plan. Hardly a plan at all really, just a stupid, horrible idea. Completely stupid and if it went wrong, it could destroy the life he’d created for himself. Hell, even it went right, it could ruin everything. He’d need to talk to Wei, she was the only person that he knew to have gone to Lake Laogai and leave, even if she thought that she was a Joo Dee. The thought of talking to her with her absent eyes and burnt hand freaked him out, but he resolved to anyways. He needed to know. 

On a whim, Zuko tried going to the spots he always saw the Joo Dees taking the richer people around to. The Market was empty, as was the local park, which only left the square with the fountain. The same place that he’d burnt Wei last time. Zuko walked there, getting slower and slower with each step. He could almost feel the guilt weighing him down.

Finally, he arrived. The abandoned building that he’d started the fire in was knocked down, with the beginning of a new construction project in its place. There were a few people milling around, couples sitting on the edge of the fountain, friends drinking and chatting together. On the edge of the square, however, standing and facing a couple from the upper ring who were sitting on the fountain was Wei. It still took Zuko a moment to be sure it was her and not one of the other Joo Dees that came around occasionally, but she was wearing the green hair clip. There was a serene smile on her face, but her eyes were still blank.

Zuko scowled, that wasn’t Wei, he reminded himself, it was just a husk, “Excuse me, Joo Dee?”

Wei turned, an unnatural smile spreading across her lips, “Can I help you?” She greeted. Zuko resisted the urge to run. He stared her down, his eyes roaming over the clip in her hair. Zuko could feel his heart beat getting faster and faster.

No, this was a mistake, a huge mistake. He never should have come to see her. She moved her arm, the one that had been burnt and Zuko flinched, “Where did they take you?”

She blinked, “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

He steeled himself, “The Dai Li, where did they take you?”

Wei blinked, as if she was taken by surprise, but the dazed look was back again quickly, “Take me?”

“A few months ago, you were taken by them. Where?”

Wei’s smile faded a little bit, “Ah, Lake Laogai. I had a wonderful vacation. Maybe the Dai Li will let you go there.”

Zuko could feel his breathing speeding up as he averted his gaze from her blank eyes, “Yes, so tell me where it is.”

“You will find out if you need to go.”

“Wei! Tell me!”

“You will find out if you—”

Zuko cut her off, “I need the real Wei, not this weird Dai Li version! Please, Wei, please!” He pleaded.

There it was again, the quick flash of Wei, before she became dazed again, “I am afraid I cannot help you. If the Dai Li wish to take you to Lake Laogai, then you will go.”

“It’s me, Wei. Lee. You need to remember me, we’ve been living together for years!”

“The Dai Li have provided excellent accommodation. They are truly a great cultural institution in Ba Sing Se,” Wei recited.

“The Dai Li are the ones who took you parents. They ruined your life and then they took you too, you need to remember,” Zuko insisted. Wei only looked at him curiously, like he’d told her that there was going to be storm that night instead of revealing that she’d been kidnapped, “I was the one that bought you that hair clip. We were sitting right here, it was the same night they took you.”

Wei reached up and touched it and for just a second, Zuko wondered if he’d managed it. But the next minute, she frowned and then that unnatural smile spread across her lips again, “I’m afraid I cannot help you.”

Zuko could feel the guilt crush him. He’d destroyed Wei, caused her to be taken and to become a Joo Dee. And he couldn’t fix it. He knew he should walk away — Wei obviously wasn’t going to tell him anything about Lake Laogai and if he wanted to find the Avatar’s pet, he was better off trying something different, but he stayed. He’d ran away from Wei twice, the first time when he left her to the Dai Li and the second when he left her as a Joo Dee. It was time he stopped running and actually helped.

So Zuko sighed, feeling like he was about to make a huge mistake. He gently took her hand, the one wrapped in bandages and held it to her, “You were burnt.”

“It was caused by a fallen candle. So foolish,” She finished, gazing at him through her blank eyes.

“It wasn’t a fallen candle, Wei.”

“A fallen candle, so foolish.” The last time they’d been this close, she’d grabbed his hand and had screamed so loudly that he could still hear it wherever he went. 

“Stop this!” Zuko yelled, “It wasn’t a candle, it was me!” 

“I am afraid—”

Zuko screamed, “Wei! It was me! I set fire to the house! I’m the one who burnt your hand!” He unraveled the bandages. Zuko gagged when he saw her burnt skin underneath. It was blackened and he knew from the old cautionary stories that his mother used to tell him about black skin that she’d never be able to use it again.

He could swear that there was a tear coming from her eyes, “I am afraid I cannot help you,” Her voice was shaking. 

This was it. Something in him snapped Zuko lit up his hand like a match. The fire ran up and down his arms, lighting up the dark night and flickering in front of Wei’s face, “It was me, Wei!” For the first time in what felt like forever, he felt the intoxication power that rose through him, spreading through his arms and legs, all the way to his fingertips. For the first time in years, he felt alive. He glared at it hatefully, fire was disgusting, another mark that he was the enemy. 

Then, Wei screamed. For a minute, Zuko could have sworn that it was the night he’d burnt her again, that scream was carved deep inside his mind. It echoed around the square, making everyone turn their heads. More screamed erupted. Wei was still frozen, her eyes reflecting the warm fire, her mouth frozen in a scream, “Lee?” She was crying, “Lee!” 

“Wei!” Zuko called back. It felt like an anvil lifted off his back. Wei was back, the real Wei. But she was staring at him like he was a stranger, no worse, the same way that she looked at the Dai Li. Zuko flinched, couldn’t she see that he was still Lee? “You’re back.”

“You’re a…” Her voice was shaking and her eyes, so empty before, were filled with fear. She hugged her arm to her body, staring at it like she’d never seen it before, “My hand…” 

Suddenly, the earth around him moved. Zuko yelled out as he felt his lower body get incased in thick, heavy earth. It encircled his body, preventing him from moving even an inch. The Dai Li were here.

Wei must have seen them too, her eyes widening in fear. She took a step away, fear in her eyes.

“Wei, help me!” Zuko begged. Distantly, he knew that she wasn’t an Earth Bender, that no matter what she did, the Dai Li had him, but he couldn’t care about that, not when she was staring at him the same way he had his father on then night he’d tried to kill him.

“You burnt me,” Her voice was rough and uncertain, “You’re Fire Nation,” Her voice turned angry.

“Please, Wei, help me. I don’t want the Dai Li to make me disappear!” 

Slowly, she shook her head, “You’re not Lee. You can’t be. You’re a monster! I hate you! I hate you! You tried to kill me, I hate you!”

“I was an accident, Wei! I’m sorry!” Zuko screamed, before he felt a patch of earth mould itself to his face, stopping him from speaking. 

Wei just backed away, staring at him like he was his father. In the light of the moonlight, Zuko could see the rest of the people in the park. They were staring at him with murderous hatred. No, he wanted to shout, I hate the Fire Nation too! If they knew, they would understand, he was sure. 

Wei was running away from him now, her pale dress fading into the distance. He’d been trying to find her for months and the moment he did, she was the one doing everything she could to get away from him. He watched as she sprinted away, disappearing inside the alleyways they’d grown up in. 

Zuko felt the earth around him recede, wrapping around her arms and binding them together. Two Dai Li agents were heading towards him, menacingly. He’d made sure to stay as far away as possible from them before, their too bright green eyes seemed to be piercing his soul. Normally, people greeted the arrival of the Dai Li by disappearing as fast as they could, but Zuko watched as the people in the square looked approvingly, one or two even clapping. 

Zuko shuddered, he was alone now. Quickly, he glanced towards the sky, savouring the sight of it. How long would it be before he felt the heat of the sun on his skin again? He doubted he’d be put back into the city like Wei had been. They’d sooner kill him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading guys! Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and that no one got too attached to Wei.   
> I always love getting feedback on how to improve the story etc so feel free to let me know about anything like that.


	8. The Prisoner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a Dai Li prison, Zuko is stuck trying escape.

The Dai Li jail was, no surprise, underground. Zuko always felt safe underground, you had to in an Earth Kingdom city, but this time he was on edge. His hands were clamped together uncomfortably behind his back and he could feel the cold, callous hands of the two Dai Li agents holding onto his arms. Each step echoed through the dark cave. 

The Dai Li hadn’t spoken a word since they arrested him. Zuko wasn’t surprised, they didn’t talk anywhere else. But it still made him feel unnerved. His mother’s warning echoed in his head, Never fire bend again. He’d broken the only rule he’d lived by since the night he escaped. And look what happened, now he was stuck in a Earth Kingdom prison, considered an enemy in a land he’d been a refugee in. 

Zuko walked by cell after cell. Most of them were empty. A few had some people in it, dressed in dirty Earth Kingdom garments, staring at him curiously when he passed. Others bared their teeth and screamed. One old woman just started singing an old earth kingdom song. Zuko relaxed a bit at the tune, it was familiar, one that had been sung often at the orphanage. 

Then, there was the oddest cell of them all. It was big, incredibly humongous. There was a window and inside, slept a gigantic beast. Zuko gasped when he realised what it was, the Avatar’s flying moose creature! Immediately, he started struggling against the Dai Li. They only clamped the earth holding his hands together tighter. Zuko grimaced at the pain. The flying moose watched Zuko out of the corner of it’s eyes, big and curious. Sorry, Zuko wanted to say. 

Everything felt like a complete waste. He wondered if Taiyo was wondering why he hadn’t returned home yet, or if the tale of the fire bender inside the city had reached him. The word tasted bitter on his lips. Fire bender. How had he let himself get caught? He had avoided it for years. He thought back to Wei. Well, almost avoided it. That was the only good thing to come out of this : Wei. She was normal again. Or, as close to normal as you can get after being in that weird daze for a year.

The Dai Li brought him to his cell. It was completely made of dirt, even the bars. Zuko couldn’t see any window or anything he could light that would make a fire. The Dai Li threw him inside. Zuko watched as they left him there in the darkness. Suddenly, he was alone. He was tempted to light a fire to warm him up, but Zuko resisted. Every time he casted a fire, bad things happened. And besides, it was a reminder that he wasn’t really part of the Earth Kingdom. Sure, the cell he was in wasn’t exactly screaming that he belonged with them, but Zuko couldn’t blame the Dai Li. Fire benders caused death and destruction, nothing else. 

The days passed slowly and the nights slower. There was nothing to do and Zuko’s clothes were starting to smell. Woefully, he realized there was no chance he still had a job, Jamoshi would’ve found an eager refugee to fill his place by now. The Dai Li hadn’t visited him either. Zuko wondered if they were just going to let him rot. He was hungry and thirsty, his muscles ached because of the horrible sleep he was getting and he was so tired. It felt like he had to fight to keep his eyes open or else he would fall asleep. The cold was getting to him as well. He figured it had to do with the lack of sunlight. He still woke up at dawn though. He could feel it in his blood, adrenaline pumping through his body and for a few minutes, he’d feel truly awake before the exhaustion got to him again and he slept. 

He thought he was imagining it when he heard the voices. They were whispering and he couldn't make out hat they wee saying yet. As they got closer, Zuko could make out that they were feminine and young. Zuko was almost a hundred precent sure that there weren’t any teenage girl Dai Li. 

“Can you feel anything yet?” One girl asked. 

“Shh,” The other muttered, “The Dai Li will hear us.”

“But do you?”

“No.”

They were getting closer, only a few meters away.

“I wonder if Aang found Appa?” The first girl asked. 

The name sounded very familiar. Appa. Appa? Then, it clicked. The flying moose was call Appa, he’d seen the name on the sign a long time ago. 

“Hey!” Zuko called, desperately flinging himself to the cave bars.

The two girls froze.

“I know where Appa is!” He yelled. 

The girls quickly came into view. One was a small Earth bender. She was dressed in a weird outfit, but it was still green. The other however, must have been a water tribe. Zuko studied her clothes. They were dyed blue, a colour he hadn’t seen very much. Her brown hair fell down her back and her skin was darker than what Zuko had seen. They stared at him suspiciously.

“Who are you?” the water tribe girl demanded.

“My name is Lee. Can you let me out?” He pleaded.

The earth bender looked eager to, “Finally,” She said, “Someone whose willing to break a few rules.”

The water tribe girl held her back, “Toph, wait. He’s in here for something.” She looked at him cautiously, “What did you do.”

Hmm. Firebend in public, burn his best friend’s hands and then get caught by the Dai Li a few months later. Or maybe the whole ‘I’m a Fire Nation prince’ thing was worse, “Nothing!” He lied, “It’s the Dai Li, they throw everyone in here for nothing.”

“Toph?’ The water girl asked.

“Lying,” Toph responded, easily. 

Zuko guffawed, “Lying?” He was a good liar, something that had saved his skin many, many times over the year, but this little kid didn’t fall for it for even a second.

Toph stomped her food on the ground, “Heart beat sends vibrations. Now, why are you really here?”

Oh well that was just unfair. Zuko cursed his bad luck, before he stammered out a half truth. “A friend of mine, Wei, the Dai Li kidnapped her a year ago and I tried to get her back to normal. The Dai Li didn’t approve.” That was the broad strokes, with the whole ‘firebending’ aspect taken out. 

The water tribe girl looked at Toph again.

“Truth,” Toph said, but her eyes still held a hint of distrust. 

The other girl smiled widely, “We’ll help you of here.”

Zuko let out a sigh of relief, “Get these bars open then, please.”

“You’ll lead us to Appa?” Toph asked.

Zuko nodded, “You have my word.”

The two girls nodded and Toph bent the bars. Zuko scampered out, carefully avoiding being too near to the fire she was holding. He was sure it would bend if he went near it. It was still intoxication being so close to it, but Zuko didn’t want to burn anyone else, much less the Avatar’s friends. If he’d been worried about what the Dai Li might do to him, he could count of the Avatar’s anger much much worse. His legs felt a bit shaky after days of disuse and he almost collapsed onto the tiny girl, who yelped and kicked him away. 

“I’m Katara by the way,” The water tribe girl, offering him a hand, “This is Toph. We’re with the Avatar.”

He nodded, “I’m Lee.”

“Nice to meet you then, Lee,” Katara said, smiling.

“The flying moose-beaver is this way,” Zuko lead the pair down the tunnel, “I saw him on my way to the cell.”

“It’s a flying bison, actually. And thank you, by the way. For helping us,” Katara said.

“No problem, you helped me out too.”

“What are you going to do after you get out? Won’t the Dai Li be after you?” Toph asked.

Zuko shrugged, “Go back to my flat, I guess. Try to get my job back.”

“But the Dai Li will just catch you again.”

“Not if they don’t know who I am. New name, new life,” Zuko said carelessly. The idea of giving up Lee hurt. He had gone through one name already and it looked like he would have to give up a second one. Besides, he could hardly remember the world outside of Ba Sing Se and what he did remember hadn’t been nice. The Fire Nation, he was sure, was a cruel place. Ba Sing Se was harsh too, in its own way, but he knew what to expect.

The conversation faded into an awkward silence. The paths to the flying moose were long and winding, Zuko even found himself doubling back a few times and successfully hiding that fact from the two girls. If they knew he was getting lost, he would loose his ticket out of here.

“What happened to your friend?” Katara asked, “The one you said the Dai Li kidnapped.”

Zuko stopped walking. Wei. She hated him now, didn’t she? The realisation felt like a punch in the gut. Deep down, Zuko knew he deserved it. He was the son of the man whose armies murdered her people. The nephew of the general that ordered his armies to siege Ba Sing Se. He had burnt her hands and caused her to spend time in this hell of a cave. A hollow, weak and pain filled laugh escaped his mouth. He never should of even tried to be her friend, fate had guaranteed that their friendship would end in fire. All because of his stupid parents, the stupid fire nation and his stupid golden eyes. 

“Lee? Are you okay? What happened to your friend?” Katara demanded, ice creeping into her voice.

Zuko shook his head, “Don’t worry about it.”

Katara didn’t give up, “Tell me, Lee. It’s obvious that you’re upset about her.”

Zuko shook his head, “Drop it, please.” Thinking about her hurt. Made his heart throb painfully in his chest, made his eyes water and his breaths uneven.

After a moment of hesitation, Katara spoke again, “Is your friend gone? Disappeared?” 

Zuko stayed silent. He continued walking, his legs still wobbling slightly as he stepped. 

Katara pressed her lips together, frustrated, before speaking again. “Lee, please, tell me.”

Zuko turned to face her, anger etched on his face, “Why would I tell you anything? You’re just going to leave with the Avatar once I bring you to your flying beast and go back to traveling the world. If I didn’t know where the bison was, you’d have left me in that cell.”

Katara took a sharp breath, “I wouldn’t have!”

Zuko chucked, “You were pretty close to doing that.”

“Well you’re here now, isn’t that good enough?” She demanded.

“No, not really! Not when in an hour I’ll be back in Ba Sing Se, begging for my job back and telling my roommate I’m not dead while you and the Avatar leave us to deal with the Dai Li, the swarms of refugees and the people dying of starvation and living on the streets.”

Katara glared up at him with fury in her eyes, “We know that people are suffering! I hate it when we leave a town and force them to deal with the Fire Nation soldiers that are after us! But we’re just kids, we barely know what we’re doing most of the time! All we know is that Aang, the Avatar, can overthrow the Firelord and that we’ve done the most in a hundred years!”

Zuko and Katara stood face to face, each challenging the other to back down. Finally, Zuko pointed to a door just a few meters away, “The beasts in there,” He said.

Katara immediately ran towards it with Toph on her heels. He door bended into the ground, They ran inside the room, “Appa! Appa!”

Zuko glanced inside. The girls were hugging the beast and petting it’s white fur. The beast, for it’s part, seemed overjoyed. Finally, the two got on top of it. Katara glanced down at Zuko, “Coming?”

Zuko hurried towards Appa. He stood in front of it for a minute, trying to figure out how to get onto it, when the ground below his feet catapulted him onto it’s back. Zuko grabbed it’s long fur for his life as he steadied himself. Toph was smirking at his landing. He caught Katara staring at him with pursed lips, but she looked away quickly. He smiled and laid down on the soft fur as Appa rose into the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone is having a good weekend! So this story has finally caught up with the Avatar and everything else going on, but Zuko is still hoping to keep staying in Ba Sing Se. We'll see how well that works out for him next chapter.  
> Feel free to tell me how you felt about the story, etc, always open to feedback.


	9. The Escapee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko escapes from the Lake Laogai and has to decide what his future will be

Zuko could only stare as he rose higher and higher into the air. The highest he’d ever been was his apartment and now he was hundred of meters in the air. Zuko clenched Appa’s thick fur harder as he became very aware of the height. 

Katara glanced over at him, “Just don’t look down.” Zuko didn’t even want to think about how scared he looked. Taking her advice, Zuko stared at clouds instead. They were much closer to him than usual. He felt as though he could reach out his hands and touch them. 

Then, the sun came out. Suddenly, his body clicked back into work. The fogginess in his mind cleared up, the aches and pains in his limbs faded and he could feel his heartbeat getting quicker. Barely aware of what he was doing, Zuko stretched out his arms in front of him. The fire was bubbling dangerously, flooding through his body. He could feel his skin heating up, the air in his hands warming and overwhelming sense of power coursed through his veins. 

Then, a cold hand wrapped around his wrist. Zuko shot out of his thoughts with a gasp. Toph, as small as she was, was desperately holding his wrist. A second later, Zuko he couldn’t feel Appa’s nice warm fur on his feet. Then, he realised with no small amount of panic, that his entire lower body was sliding off Appa. He heard Katara shriek as she noticed him almost falling off. She grabbed his other wrist and tugged as hard as she could.

Toph grunted with effort as she tugged. With their help, he managed to pull himself us, his chest heaving with the effort. He was lying flat on Appa, both hands desperately clutching at his thick fur, until Toph stood over him.

Toph glared at him with narrowed eyes, “Why did you let go?”

Zuko stammered out an answer, “Tired? Um. Yeah, I was tired. My hands got tired.”

Toph raised an eyebrow. Clearly, she didn’t believe him, “You better thank your lucky stars that we’re a thousand meters above the ground or else I’d pummel you.”

Zuko, in fact, was thanking his lucky stars, “No pummelling please.”

Katara gazed down at him, “Well, lucky we caught you anyways.” 

“Hold on, isn’t the Avatar still looking for Appa? Is he still in Lake Laogai?”

Toph shook her head, “I sent a vibration in the earth when we found him. Aang will get the message. He and Sokka will be at our meet up point soon.”

“Meet up point?” 

“A few kilometres away from Ba Sing Se.”

“Away?” Zuko asked, outraged, “I need to go back!”

“We need to be stealthy!” Katara fired back, “Dropping you back in the lower ring off a giant flying bison isn’t exactly subtle.” Zuko went quiet at this. 

“Lee?” Katara said, a few minutes later, “Look down.”

“Look down?” Zuko asked, “Katara get back!” Katara was peering off the side of Appa, staring at the ground. Just the sight of her so close to the edge made his heart beat faster.

“Lie down and hold on tight,” She replied, still on the edge, “It’s safe.”

“I just almost fell!” Zuko replied.

“You let go of Appa, of course you fell. Just come here, you need to see this,” Katara shot back.

Zuko took a deep breath, before crawling to where Katara was lying down, making sure to grip Appa’s fur. She grinned and patted the spot next to her.

Reluctantly, Zuko laid down. Katara smiled reassuringly at him and Zuko scooted up to where she was, with his head staring at the ground.

He gasped at what he saw. Ba Sing Se, the entire city, was laid out at his feet. He could see the thick walls dividing up the city, the immaculate red roofs of the upper ring, the monorail carving the city into sections.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Katara asked.

“I’ve never seen the upper ring,” Zuko answered, “It’s beautiful. I haven’t seen anything except the lower ring since I got here.”

Katara looked at him, “You moved here?”

Zuko nodded, “Yeah. Five years ago.”

“Are you a refugee?” She asked, quietly.

Zuko gazed down at his city, basking in his view, “Yes.”

“But you still have family, right? They fled here with you?” 

Zuko’s face hardened, “No.”

Katara looked guilty, “Sorry.”

Zuko shook his head, “It was a long time ago.”

She took a deep breath, like she was steeling herself for something hard, “My mother was killed by the Fire Nation too.”

Zuko bristled at the word killed. His family hadn’t been killed. They were the ones doing the killing, murdering mothers and children, “The Fire Nation are monsters,” He spat.

“All they cause is death and destruction. The only thing fire does is burn. They’ve taken so much! My mother, your family, people’s homes and lives,” Katara’s fists were shaking, hatred and pain were shining through her eyes. Zuko felt a spike of shame. Katara’s words repeated themselves in his head, the only thing fire does is burn. It was true. He’d burnt Wei, burned their entire apartment. He scowled. Even though he hated the Fire Nation, he was still burning people. 

He looked back out at Ba Sing Se. They were further away now, just past the sprawling agrarian zone. He was pretty sure he hadn’t seen that much greenery since he left the Fire Nation. He tensed up as they passed over the outer wall. He hadn’t seen the outside for years. And then, just like that, they were out of Ba Sing Se. 

Zuko was surprised by how vulnerable he felt. Without the walls keeping the danger out, he felt beyond exposed. The desserts around him seemed empty and Zuko was shocked that only a few seconds ago he’d been flying over the lush greenery of the agrarian zone. 

Ten minutes later, Ba Sing Se was in the distance. He felt Appa slowly lowering himself towards the ground. Just before he touched down, Toph shot off his back and landed on a rocky ledge she bent mid air. She landed with a happy yell. Zuko slid off Appa as fast as he could, relieved when he felt his feet touch earth instead of fur. He had no idea how much he loved solid ground. 

Toph grinned in his direction, “I know!”

Zuko frowned, “Know what?”

In response, she dug her feet further into the ground, “Earth. Dirt. Grass. I hate flying.”

Zuko nodded, “Yeah. Nothing beats two feet on the ground.

“Not even the view?” Katara slid down with them.

Toph made a face and pointed to her eyes, “Blind!” 

“I was talking to Zuko, Toph.”

“The view was pretty amazing,” Zuko replied. He glanced around. There was only an endless dessert around him, nothing else. It made him jittery. 

“Calm down Lee,” Toph said.

“Calm down?”

“Your heartbeats all over the place. Why so scared?” She demanded.

Zuko shrugged, “Ba Sing Se has walls. It’s protected. Here anything can happen. It’s just a bit freaky.”

Toph only rolled her eyes, “That’s dumb.”

Zuko sighed and turned towards Katara, “So it took us twenty minutes to go here. How fast can the Avatar do it?”

Katara shrugged, “Two hours probably. Shouldn’t take a crazy long time.”

Zuko nodded, “Alright. Now just one last thing. The war, we aren’t allowed to talk about it in Ba Sing Se, so what happened? All I know is that the Avatar woke up and something crazy happened in the Water Tribe.” And so for the next two hours, Katara told Zuko everything that had happened.

By the time her story was finished, the Avatar had appeared on the horizon with another person. Zuko squinted his eyes to get a better view, when Appa suddenly took off. Zuko yelled, but Katara only waved him off. Minutes later, Appa reappeared, two passengers on its back.

The first was a young boy, twelve or so, probably, with a huge smile on his face. He was dressed in loose yellow clothes. The other was on older teenagers in the same blue clothes as Katara. The two disembarked.

“Whose that?” The water tribe boy asked, pointing at Lee. 

“That’s Lee,” Katara said, “He’s a refugee from Ba Sing Se. He helped us find Appa.”

The young boy beamed at him, “Hi! I’m Aang! Thank you so much.” Lee stepped back, Aang was incredibly energetic. 

The older boy stepped forward, “And I’m Sokka, Katara’s brother.” Lee wasn’t sure he liked them very much. They both emitted so much energy that it was a bit intimidating. The four of them gathered around each other and as Katara explained what happened. Zuko hung back, he wasn’t part of their group. All he wanted was a lift back to Ba Sing Se. 

Half an hour later, they climbed onto Appa. Zuko quickly followed. Katara ran up to him as Appa flew in the air.

“Okay,” she said, “We’re going back to Ba Sing Se to storm the Earth King's palace.”

Zuko stared at her in disbelief, “The Earth King’s palace? Are you insane?”

She shrugged, “He needs to know what the Dai Li have been doing.”

Zuko kept staring. Katara shrugged and continued, “We’ll drop you off in the agrarian zone, can you make it back to the lower by yourself?”

Zuko nodded, “So that’s your plan then? Just storm the Earth King’s Palace?”

Katara nodded, “That’s about it.”

Zuko shook his head, “That’s insane.”

Katara smiled, “Just a bit. And you just plan to get your job back?”

Zuko nodded sullenly, “Get my job, get my apartment, continue living here.”

“And if everything goes well with us, the Dai Li won’t arrest you because they’ll be under the control of the Earth King. It’ll be just like before.”

Zuko took a deep breath, “Yeah. I hope so at least.”

Katara bit her lip, “And if it doesn’t, we’ll be at the palace for a few days. You can join us, if you want. Leave Ba Sing Se, fight the Fire Nation.”

Zuko smiled sadly, “I can’t. Ba Sing Se’s my home. My friends are all here. My life is here. I’ve had to run from my home before. I won’t be doing it again.”

Katara nodded understandingly, “It was nice to meet you then, Lee.”

Zuko looked around and noticed that he was suddenly in the agrarian zone. Appa was moments away from touching down. It was so fast. He slid off of Appa’s back, his feet safely planted back on the ground and waved goodbye. A second later, they were gone, a speck in the sky. Zuko smiled to himself as he began his trudge home. He had helped the Avatar and going back home. With the best of luck, the Dai Li would be dealt with by the Avatar. Things were looking up.

* * *

The walk back to the outer ring took him a few hours. Zuko kept his head down when he spotted the Dai Li among the crowd, but no one even looked over at him. The disappearance of Appa must of outshined his own escape. By the time he made it back to the apartment, he was ready to collapsed.

Zuko grabbed the spare keys from underneath a dead plant, jamming it into the lock. He opened the door, only to flinch when he came face to face with a knife, “Taiyo? You’ll never guess what I did.” 

Taiyo stared at him, hostility in his face, “Fire bender.”

Zuko’s eyes widened — the Dai Li must have investigated the people he was close to. Taiyo knew everything already, “It’s not like that.”

Taiyo only hardened, “I’ll call for the Dai Li,” he threatened.

And Zuko acted. He slammed his hand across Taiyo’s mouth, shutting him up, “You can’t! Please, Taiyo, I swear that I’m not with the Fire Nation. I’m just your flatmate — we’ve been living together for months.”

Taiyo tried to bite his hand, so Zuko clamped down harder, “I’ll move you, if you want. Just don’t tell them.”

Taiyo walked back, getting Zuko off of him, “Stay away from me, killer.”

Zuko froze. Is that what Taiyo thought of him? Months of friendship, gone just because he’d accidentally bended? “I’m not a killer.”

“I won’t tell the Dai Li, just get out of here,” Taiyo told him, “And stay away from this place.”

Zuko crossed his arms, “I thought we were friends.”

“I could never be friends with something like you,” Taiyo replied, baring his teeth. Zuko shuddered. He could see hate in Taiyo’s eyes, the kind that he’d only seen a few times in his life. So he nodded, quickly grabbing whatever he could stuff in his backpack, while Taiyo glared at him in the corner of the room.

“Good luck,” Zuko told him.

Taiyo narrowed his eyes, “Just leave.”

Zuko shouldered his bag, giving his apartment one last look, before he shut the door and tossed the spare key out a window onto the street below. He would need somewhere to stay the night — the idea of spending time on the streets with the Dai Li looking for him was not a comfortable one. And he did have the key to Jamoshi’s Tea Shop. That would do it, he decided. 

On the way there, he passed by the square where Wei always used to wander. Zuko eyed the scorched earth near the fountain — the only sign that something bad had happened there. For a brief moment, he considered trying to find her so that they could live together like they used to, but he shook that off quickly. He and his fire had already been responsible for enough bad things in her life. Besides, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to take it if she looked at him the same way Taiyo had.

The Tea Shop’s windows were dark, not surprising considering it had to be the dead of night. Zuko was about to go inside when he noticed a sign in the window : Help Wanted, with another sign saying : Position Filled next to it. Gone one day and Jamoshi had already found a replacement that he was probably paying a dollar an hour less for. 

Zuko sat on the curb. No home, no job, no friends. In less than twenty four hours, everything that he’d spent years building had been destroyed. It was like Ba Sing Se was trying to reject him, like he was dirt in a wound that would infect it if it wasn’t expelled. His mother’s warning echoed in his ears, to never fire bend again. And he had and in doing so, destroyed Lee, Ba Sing Se refugee. He eyed the great walls that surrounded the city. If the city wanted him gone, he would leave. No one ever left Ba Sing Se, not by ferry or on foot. It was lucky that he knew where a flying bison was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! Thanks to everyone whose still keeping up with the story and hi to anyone whose reading it for the first time.  
> Feel free to leave feedback, etc, or whatever.


	10. The Long Lost Prince

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko tries to find the Avatar by heading to the Inner Ring to track him down - only to face unexpected complications and a familiar face.

The Earth King’s palace was in the inner ring. He’d been shown pictures of it in school and the whole class had practically drooled over it. Zuko didn’t tell any of them that his old house had been twice the size. But compared to the drag and shared rooms at the orphanage and the shacks of the outer ring, it looked like paradise.

Zuko was cursing the Avatar for having their ridiculous plan of storming the Earth King’s palace — why couldn’t they have stormed somewhere easier to get to?Getting to the inner ring ended up taking him all night. He was thankful for his time as a street rat — he knew the outer ring like the back of his hand and no one would bother giving him a second glance. He kept getting stuck at the gates, waiting for the guards to turn their back for just a minute, so that he could squeak by and hide before they realised what he’d done. It might have been his imagination, but he felt like the Dai Li weren’t being nearly as observant as they normally were. Not that he complaining.

He continued on his mission, navigating the inner ring and losing his way a dozen times. He hadn’t left the inner ring in five long years and wasn’t used to the wide open streets and spacious houses. It didn’t even feel like the same city, there were no Dai Li here, no suspicious smells and no one begging on street corners. He scowled, he doubted that they’d ever been afraid of the Dai Li, much less cared about the people who disappeared at their hands.

Zuko ended up finding the Earth King’s palace by navigating through the inner ring by following the grand houses. The Palace would surely be in the richest area of the inner ring, so all he had to do was find the nicer houses and they’d lead him straight there.

It came into sight shortly after, sticking out of the landscape like a white sand beach on a rocky shore. It was grander than he could picture, gigantic and elaborately decorated. He sneered — had the Earth King ever gone hungry during the siege? 

It was then that Zuko realised his brilliant plan had a massive flaw: there was no flying bison in sight. He looked around, just to make sure, but there was a real lack of bison, Avatar or scraggly band of his friends. What was he supposed to do then, just knock on the Earth King’s door and ask for directions to the Avatar? 

Zuko steeled his nerves, it wasn’t like he had anything left in the outer ring anyways. But before he could make a plan, Zuko felt the earth beneath him grow, surrounding his feet and hardening. The Dai Li, he realised, cursing himself for letting them sneak up on him. How had he not noticed?

“I need to speak to the Avatar,” Zuko pleaded, as two Dai Li agents surrounded him, “He’s expecting me.”

The Dai Li’s empty eyes stared back, “The Avatar is busy.”

“Then his companion — Kerra, or Katara. The water one!”

“The Avatar is busy.” 

Zuko felt his heart drop. He was so close to the Avatar, but he’d just be arrested again and this time, he was sure that they wouldn’t wait before they killed him. He didn’t resist as they lead him to an underground tunnel. He’d tried that last time and he’d only gotten bruises for his effort. 

Instead of being led to the cells, he was taken to a different room. Zuko was roughly pushed through the doorway, only to look up and come face to face with a teenage girl, staring down at him with cold eyes. She had sharp features, with dark hair twisted into an elegant bun. Zuko eyed the hairpiece, which was a pale gold. It felt like a half remembered dream, he had seen that hairpiece every day when he was younger…it was a symbol of Fire Nation royalty, specifically for princesses and the only person in the world who was allowed to wear it was, “Azula?”

Her eye’s widened by just a fraction, but it was enough. The last time he’d seen her, she had been nine years old, using her her fire bending to boil his tea so hot that it burnt his tongue and showing off in front of their parents. Now, she was a teenager, looking every inch the powerful princess everyone had expected her to grow into, “That’s Princess Azula to you, traitor.”

What was Azula even doing with the Dai Li? She was supposed to be in the Fire Nation. Had she been arrested? A sinking feeling filled him. If Azula was in Ba Sing Se that could only mean one thing. Ba Sing Se had fallen and no one had even realised it.

Zuko shook himself out of his daze — little sister or not, Azula was still Fire Nation and the only chance he had at getting out of Ba Sing Se without being flame broiled was to be Lee, non-bending refugee, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m a loyal citizen of the Earth Kingdom.”

A smirk spread on her lips, “I don’t think so, fire bender.” 

Zuko froze. Fire bender. All his secrets and at the end of the day, he was still one of them. The Dai Li must have told Azula when they recaptured him. He stayed quiet.

Azula leaned back, “All fire benders are considered subjects of the Fire Nation, and I can assure you, the Fire Lord does not take kindly to deserters.”

Zuko could feel his heart rate getting faster, but he hadn’t survived Ba Sing Se for five years without becoming a good liar, “I didn’t desert. I never fought for the Fire Nation. I simply wish to return to my normal life.”

The way she was analysing him made him shiver, “Then tell me, how did a fire bender manage to get into Ba Sing Se? Even our best general couldn’t get through it.”

“You got in,” he pointed out.

She smiled, a flash of danger in her eyes, “I’m an exception.”

“Maybe I am as well,” he replied.

She sighed and stood up. Zuko watched her warily as she bent her legs a little. As she brought her hands up, he felt his instincts take over and he dove out of the chair, just fast enough to avoid a small flame that hit the dirt chair instead. Zuko stared at the small burn, eyes wide.

“You’d do well not to lie to me,” she sneered, “Now, let’s talk.”

Zuko stood up, using the wall to support himself, “You just tried to kill me!" The qualms he had about the girl not being Azula were quickly squashed. This certainly was the same Azula he’d left behind.

“Ugh,” she rolled her eyes, “It would have hit your arm. And besides, you dodged.” She bended again, conjuring two balls of fire that sat in her palm, “Now, tell me, how did you come to Ba Sing Se?”

Zuko sneered at her, “I was born here.”

Another fireball, but he was able to step side it fairly easily. Azula narrowed her eyes, “The Dai Li arrested every person of Fire Nation descent decades ago. Try again.”

He scowled, “They missed one.” He saw Azula preparing to send a fireball, so he step sided, only to scream moments later when a second came immediately after and hit his leg. Pain laced through his leg as he felt searing heat in his thighs. Zuko leaned on his other leg, panting slightly. 

Azula looked up from her nails, as if she’d gotten bored, “You shouldn’t test me. I’ve been itching for an excuse to practice ever since I got inside this stupid city.”

Zuko felt heat flooding his body, fire coursing through his veins as he fought his instincts. He couldn’t bend, not without giving Azula proof as to who he was, “How are you working with the Dai Li?”

She smirked, “They felt like they needed a…change in leadership. I was more than happy to help. Now, stop trying to distract me, it won’t work and I have a feeling you won’t be able to dodge without getting burnt again.”

Zuko scowled, how much could he say without her figuring out who he was? “I was taken here when I was young.”

“How young?”

“Can’t remember.”

Another scowl. Azula bent low again, began moving her body arms, the air in the room got hot again as she continued the movement. He couldn’t dodge this time, not with his leg and before he could think anymore, he saw flames moving towards him. Instinct and muscle memory pressed through him as he formed his own bending, firing fire at Azula. It was hardly anything, more of a splutter than an attack, but it surprised Azula just enough to knock her own form off her game and her attack went sideways, disappearing quickly.

Zuko scowled. He had just made a major mistake — Lee, non-bending refugee was gone. The faint scorches on the opposing wall proved that. It had felt familiar, fighting Azula. They used to spar all the time together as children, pitted against each other by their father. He’d lost every single time.

Azula stared at him, looking slightly uncertain for the first time since he’d walked in. She fixed him with a confused look, before firing more attacks at him. Zuko had no choice but to fire back his own, least he get burnt again. He felt the familiar pull in his chest as he kept going, his body automatically going from stance to stance as he continued, but no matter how familiar the moves felt, Zuko couldn’t produce a flame.

Azula looked like she was putting in no effort, yawning, before she ended it by hitting him with a lazy shot, “You’re sloppy and you bend like a child.”

Zuko stiffened, resisting the urge to wince at the heat emanating from his shoulder. Sloppy. He’d always been called sloppy when he was little, while Azula had been praised on her technique, “We can’t all be prodigies.”

There was that look again, but before Zuko could consider it any longer, Azula began talking again, “Some of us are born lucky.”

“And some of us are lucky to be born,” Zuko finished the phrase automatically. It had been a favourite of their father’s.

Azula’s eyes went wide, “You know that phrase?” Her voice shook ever so slightly. 

Zuko hesitated, “Yes? It’s common — isn’t it?” And then he realised, with a crashing sense of doom, that he had made a massive mistake. One that, judging by Azula’ expression, he wouldn’t be able to rectify. If Zuko hadn’t moved to the Earth Kingdom at a young age, he would have learnt with time that it wasn’t a common fire nation saying. But he moved before he figured that out, leaving him with a false idea about exactly how common it was.

“Zuzu?” Azula’s voice was hardly louder than a whisper.

For a moment, he wondered how he would get out of it, before he realised with a dead certainly that he wouldn’t. He’d given too much away already : the fact that he did have some formal fire bending training, had moved to Ba Sing Se when he was young as well as Azula’s momentary shock was already fading, as her eyes grew calculating. He didn’t really have any other option, did he? So, with a pit in his stomach, he nodded, “It’s good to see you again, Azula.”

“You’re supposed to be dead,” she remarked, dryly.

Zuko shrugged, “Sorry to disappoint.”

She raised an eyebrow, “I’ve enjoyed being an only child. Don’t tempt me into making sure I stay one.”

Zuko had to chuckle a little, “You haven’t changed.”

Azula raised an eyebrow, clearly eyeing his raggedy clothes, “You have.”

“We can’t all live like royalty,” he told her.

Azula narrowed her eyes, “Why didn’t you come back? Clearly, you escaped from whatever…situation took you from the Fire Nation. Haven’t you missed me?”

“You just burnt me, twice,” he reminded her, “And leaving Ba Sing Se is impossible.” Or maybe he didn’t want to leave. He wanted his old life back, his bad apartment with Taiyo and his shitty job, but that wasn’t likely anymore. And now that Azula knew who he was, he knew he’d never get it back. 

Azula pursed her lips, “The rumour was that pirates kidnapped you. I always took that rumour with a grain of salt — there was never a ransom.”

She wanted to know what happened the night he ran away. But a feeling in his gut told him to lie — telling her that their father tried to kill him wouldn’t end well for him. So he lied, “Yeah, that’s close to what happened. It was pirates, they threw me onto the ship and I was in the cargo hold for ages until I managed to escape, but by that point I was deep in the Earth Kingdom, so I knew it was safer to just go to Ba Sing Se where General Iroh was, but people thought I was a refugee and they took me onto a ferry into the city.”

Azula curled her lip — did she know he was lying? But she nodded, “Father will be delighted to learn of your survival. Now, your timely escape from the Dai Li prison was at the same time of the Avatar’s flying bison. You didn’t happen to be aiding the enemy of our nation, were you?”

Zuko hesitated — Azula could tell whether he was lying from a mile away, apparently. Judging by the way her eyes hardened, his silence spoke for himself. She scowled, “Father won’t be happy to hear about that.”

“I just want to live normally,” he hated how much it sounded like he was begging.

Azula narrowed her eyes. An indiscernible expression flashed on her face. That was never a good sign, Azula was always up to something, “You could come back to the Fire Nation with me. Reclaim your spot as a prince now that you’ve…escaped from those pirates.”

Azula had to be up to something, she never made things easier for him. But it had been five long years since he’d seen her and he’d certainly changed during that time. Maybe she had too? In spite of his best instincts, Zuko shook his head, “I belong in Ba Sing Se.”

That indiscernible expression hadn’t left her face. Instead, she smile cooly, “Why don’t you take some time to think about it? I’ll even throw you in the same cell as that friend of yours to help make up your mind.”

Zuko stiffened — what friend was she talking about? Wei? Either way, he was getting thrown in a cell. Again. Before Zuko could speak, Azula called out for two Dai Li agents, who cuffed his hands with hardened dirt and lead him out to the hall.

“Don’t worry, Zuzu. I’ll see you soon,” Azula called out as she walked away from him. Azula never did things without a plan, but Zuko was stumped. What could she gain from putting him a cell with a ‘friend’? Was she going to torture him so that he’d go back to the Fire Nation with her?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there's that for Zuko's secret identity.   
> Hope everyone enjoyed, feedback etc is always appreciated!


	11. The Prisoner II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With both sides closing in, Zuko is forced to consider his loyalties.

Zuko shuffled along the now familiar underground corridors. He was still being escorted through the sections with the green gems — apparently even the Dai Li prison cells were nicer in the inner ring than the outer ring. But he didn’t walk far before he felt the Earth suddenly give out below his feet. Zuko fell a good ten feet, crashing on the ground.

“Lee?” A familiar voice rang out. Katara was sitting against the far wall, looking worse for wear. 

He couldn’t tell which of them was more shocked, “Oh, hi Katara.”

“What are you even doing here? Did the Dai Li rearrest you that quickly?”

“Uh,” he scratched his neck, suddenly realising that his last hope escape plan of rescue via flying bison was definitely going to fail, “I was trying to find you guys, actually.” 

“Well,” she gestured to herself, “Mission accomplished, right?”

Zuko sighed, “Technically, yeah.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be out of here soon. Aang and the rest of my friends will get us out of here,” she tried her best to assure him.

Now it was Zuko’s turn to look confused, “Why are you prisoners of the Dai Li? Weren’t you supposed to be working with the Earth King?”

Katara’s expression darkened, “There were…complications. This girl from the Fire Nation — Princess Azula managed to get to them first.”

Zuko did his best to keep his face blank, “Really?” 

She nodded, “She’s insane. She’s been following us for months now, we thought we’d shaken her off our trail when we got to Ba Sing Se, but we were wrong. Obviously.”

So the Avatar and his friends were the ones responsible for leading Azula straight into Ba Sing Se? Typical, “And you’re just going to leave after?”

Katara frowned, “If we don’t, she’ll kill Aang.”

Zuko scowled, “And you leave Ba Sing Se to fall.”

“We’re doing everything we can,” Katara replied, exhaustion creeping into her voice, “It’s your home, I understand. But if we don’t try, the Fire Nation is going to destroy every single village and town left.”

Zuko looked away. The Avatar and his friends didn’t look any older than he was — the Avatar himself was a twelve year old, apparently. And as much as he hated that they had lead Azula to Ba Sing Se and gotten it captured, he didn’t really want to burn the last friendship he had.

“And besides,” Katara continued, “You were trying to leave too, weren’t you? That’s the reason you were trying to find us.”

Well, that was one way to make him feel like a total jerk, “Yeah.”

“Why? You were all about wanting to stay in Ba Sing Se earlier?”

Zuko hesitated. How to dance around the fact that everyone had rejected him because the found out he was a fire bender? “It didn’t work out,” he finally admitted, “The girl who got turned into a Joo Dee, Wei, she kind of hates me now. And so do a lot of people. There’s not much left for me here.”

Katara touched his arm gently, “I’m sorry, that’s awful. But when Aang and the rest of them come and rescue us, you can join us.”

Zuko wasn’t so sure, he really doubted they’d like having an out of control fire bender around them and he really, really doubted she’d be so eager to invite him if she knew who he really was. But then again, he’d managed to hide it for five years, maybe he’d be able to do it for a little longer? And the Avatar was supposed to know how to fire bend, wasn’t he? Maybe he’d be able to pick up a few tips — just enough to not burn anyone again, “Maybe.”

“Really,” Katara urged him, “And you can leave whenever you want.”

Zuko frowned, “Yesterday you told me that the Fire Nation had taken over almost everything, There’s no where left like Ba Sing Se, is there?”

She answered slowly, “Ba Sing Se was the last real stronghold against the Fire Nation. There are pockets, but…” she trailed off.

“But they’ll only last a few more years at most,” Zuko guessed. Shit. If the Fire Nation had taken over almost everything and if Azula knew who he really was, the only chance he had at living as Lee was with the Avatar, “Even if I did come, I wouldn’t be able to help. I’m a non bender.”

Katara shook her head, “That’s fine, my brother is a non bender as well. Besides, you’ve already helped a ton by freeing Appa. And it was sort of our fault that you got arrested again trying to find us, right?”

Zuko shook his head, “That was my own fault.” Well, more like Azula and her creepy control over the Dai Li, but he doubted Katara would like his explanation. But how much longer would they be stuck in the Dai Li cell before the Avatar and his friends got here, “Any chance your friends gave you a timeline on when they’d free us.” 

Katara sheepishly shook her head, “They might not actually know we’re here.”

And his good mood came crashing down. Wow, that served him right for putting his life in the hands of a group of twelve year olds. Katara laughed at his expression and Zuko smiled back. 

It had been a long few months on his own, the guilt of what he’d done to Wei weighing on his shoulder and the constant paranoia kept him up at night wondering whether the Dai Li were going to take him. Maybe it was time to leave Ba Sing Se and all of its troubles in the past. Despite the fact that he was still in an underground jail cell, Zuko felt himself relaxing. Things were getting better, he decided. It was the first time since Wei had disappeared that he’d wondered if things would go right for once.

But Azula’s little smile was still in the back of his mind. She always had a plan, but Zuko quickly shook off his worries. In a few short hours (days? weeks? months? He really hoped the Avatar would get them out fast) he’d be out of Ba Sing Se and fighting against the Fire Nation.

* * *

Luckily, the Avatar didn’t take months to rescue them. Zuko hadn’t exactly been too hopeful that he’d get there in less than a few weeks (the kid had been 100 years late to saving the world, after all), but he’d shown up only an hour later. He’d busted through the wall, sending green gems clattering all over the place.

“Aang!” Katara cried out, before standing up and wrapping him in a hug.

“Katara!” He greeted, even more enthusiastically, “Oh, and Lee?” He said, cocking his head to the side.

Zuko gave him a small wave, feeling awkward. Katara talked for him though, “He got arrested trying to find us, he’s going to come with us instead.” 

“Sure, awesome,” Aang said with a smile, “We just have to get back to the outside, hopefully Sokka and Toph warned the Earth King about Azula and then we get on Appa and leave!” 

Katara nodded eagerly, but Zuko just stared at Aang, baffled. That sounded like the definition of easier said than done. There was no way this could go right, he realised and for the first time, he fully understood that the Avatar was a literal twelve year old. They were screwed. 

“What’s the matter?” Katara asked.

Zuko frowned, “There’s no way that’ll work, it's way too simple.” Azula always had a plan and if they were even as complex as the ones she’d pulled off when she was nine, there was no way it would be as straight forward as Aang was putting it.

“No, no,” Katara shook her head, “We’ve pulled this stuff off before. And besides, Aang has mastered the Avatar State, haven’t you?” 

Aang nodded, “Uh, sure?” Well that wasn’t a lie if he hadn’t heard one before. 

Katara grinned at him, “See? Besides, we don’t have much of a choice.”

And that convinced him, because what else could they really do? Azula would definitely want to keep them prisoner, so they’d need to take her out to get free. And maybe they could even free Ba Sing Se at the same time. So for the second time in a day, Zuko smiled back and hoped that it might actually work out. 

“Alright,” he agreed, “Let’s do it.”

In retrospect, Zuko really should have known better. But still, it felt a little insulting for everything to fall to pieces literally one minute after he got his hopes up. Really, couldn’t he have gotten at least ten minutes of fun adventures with the Avatar before his life blew up again? Was ten minutes too much to ask for?

According to Azula, however, it was. They heard them coming first — the sudden sound of stomping, before suddenly the ground around Aang and Katara began shifting ever so slightly. If there was one thing Zuko had gotten good at recognising, it was what the earth looked like seconds before the Dai Li trapped someone. 

Zuko dove, pushing the both of them just enough to avoid the moving dirt, “Run!” He yelled.

Aang quickly realised what was happening, he lifted himself and Katara into the air, as he tried his best ot recede the earth coming at them from all angles. But he couldn’t do anything about the dirt quickly hardening around Zuko. He looked panicked at Zuko, who was covered to his waist.

“I — I can’t bend anything else,” Aang yelled, panic in his voice.

“Go on,” Zuko yelled, “I’ll catch up!” He was lying, but the Avatar was hopefully naive enough to believe him. Katara didn’t, however, but she kept her mouth shut, probably realising that there was no way he’d be getting out. 

Aang nodded, “We’ll come back for you!” He shouted, before the air whizzed away, the wind carrying them.

The dirt was packed hard, all the way up to Zuko’s chest. He didn’t bother to struggle — he’d been in this position enough times to know exactly how useless it was to try. 

Azula watched Aang and Katara disappear, before she looked back at Zuko, “Interesting,” she murmured. The two Dai Li agents next to her said nothing.

“Was this your plan then?” Zuko demanded, “See where my loyalties lie?”

Azula laughed haughtily, “Don’t assume you know anything about me. I’ve always been five steps ahead of you.”

Zuko didn’t bother to protest, as long as Azula had been able to talk, she’d always been ahead of him, “Planning on having your Dai Li kill me then?”

“Of course not,” Azula laughed, “Trust me, if I wanted you dead, you would be. Why would I want to kill my long lost brother?”

Zuko eyed her suspiciously. The Fire Nation was cruel at the best of times and Azula had never been an exception to that rule, “So what then?”

Azula shrugged, “I just wanted to offer you another chance. Come back home.”

“I am home.”

Azula raised an eyebrow, gesturing to the cell and the underground, “Really, you call this home?”

He bristled, “You know what I mean.” 

Azula rolled her eyes, “Honestly, I’m baffled. I was surprised to find out you were alive, don’t get me wrong, but to find out that you actually like Ba Sing Se? That’s insane. It’s dirty, smelly and crowded.”

“It’s home.” 

“No it isn’t,” Azula narrowed her eyes, “Home for us, is a palace. With art, fire festivals and gardens. It’s the turtle duck pond, do you remember that? You used to spend all your time there.”

He did. The memories were a little fuzzy, but he could remember spending long days lying on the soft grass, throwing bread at the turtle ducks and watching them swim around for ages, “They were cute,” he answered dryly, “I was ten. What ten year old doesn’t like turtle ducks?”

Azula sighed, “And you traded turtle ducks for scrounging around for food, sleeping on dirt floors and loosing any dignity you had to stay alive?”

“I survived,” Zuko defended himself.

“Barely,” Azula snorted, “The Dai Li would have executed you if I hadn’t stepped in. I’m trying to save your life, Zuzu. You could pretend to be grateful.”

“Thanks,” he said, sarcastically, gesturing himself, still covered to his neck in dirt, “You saved me from the Dai Li.”

Azula narrowed her eyes at his tone, “Fine, be like that,” she turned to walk away from him, “I’ll let you rot in here with the Dai Li — Mom won’t even know you’re alive.”

“Mom thinks I’m dead?” Zuko said, before he could stop himself.

Azula turned on her heels, “Obviously. I mean, officially, you’re still ‘missing’, but everyone thought you died, me included. I won’t get her hopes up, only to crush them by telling her that I found you, but you chose death rather than to see her.”

He could remember the last time he saw his mother, all those years ago. How scared she had looked, the fear palpable in her voice as she ran with him through the palace. She’d grasped his arm so tightly that he’d had bruises for weeks afterwards.

“Mom mourned for months,” Azula continued, “She’d cry all the time. Even now, she still hardly smiles. So I won’t be a monster and tell her that her son was really alive this entire time, but chose a dirty city over her.”

Zuko hesitated. He hadn’t considered going back to the Fire Nation since he’d first entered Ba Sing Se. He’d always been sure that Mom had been fine without him — but maybe she had thought he’d died. If his Dad had actually succeeded in killing him, he’d likely just used the same pirate excuse, so maybe Mom didn’t think he’d managed to get away that night. 

Azula sighed, “I don’t have time for this. Agents?” She addressed them. 

Wordlessly, the most of the dirt was bended off him, but there was still a good few inches covering him from the ground to his waist, but his hands were free at least, “What are you doing?”

“Do you know what holds this dirt together?” Azula asked, ignoring his question.

“Earth bending?” 

Azula sighed, “No, dum dum. Moisture. If there wasn’t any moisture, it would all just fall apart.”

“Okay, and?”

She rolled her eyes, “I really have to spell everything out for you, don’t I? Use your bending to evaporate the moisture.”

Zuko frowned, “Why are you doing this? Just bend all the dirt off of me or take me prisoner.”

Azula shrugged, “It’s your choice. Either you use your bending and actually control it, or you stay here, stuck, and I let the Dai Li deal with you as they please.”

From the looks the Dai Li were giving him, Zuko certainly didn’t find that idea appealing. 

Zuko looked at his hands with distaste, “I’m not a fire bender, even if I tried.”

“Please,” Azula rolled her eyes, “Maybe if you stopped hating your own element so much, it might actually work you you,” she recoiled, “Ugh, I sound like Uncle.”

Zuko scowled, “And if I get free, what then?” 

She smirked, “Well, if you get out, its up to you, I suppose. Go back to Ba Sing Se, go with your Avatar friends or come home with me. It’s your choice. Besides, how long do you think you’ll even last with the Avatar before they find out who you really are?” And with that, she stalked away, her Dai Li agents following her and leaving Zuko stuck waist deep in dirt. This had to break some kind of record for amount of times his life got crushed in one twenty four hour period, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, I'm going to keep this section on every chapter so to keep things simple and to help new readers who might only read the notes on the latest chapter.  
> Thanks for giving this story a try. For simplicity's sake, Zuko will always be referred to in text as 'Zuko' and only as Lee in dialogue with characters who call him that.  
> Weekly updates, I'll probably add more tags later.


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